FRIday, july 23, 2010 sraban 8, 1417, shaban 10, 1431 Hijri

   Leading news  Back Page  Editorial   Analysis  Viewpoints   International   Business/Economy   National   Sports    Back

Leading News

CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT
Change of power to be ensured thru’ ballot : PM

UNB, Sangsad Bhaban

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Parliament Thursday said that her government wants to amend the constitution to ensure the change of state power through ballot instead of bullet.
"We want to establish the sovereignty of the people, sprit of liberation war and continuity of the democratic dispensation in the country," she said in a valedictory statement before the prorogation of the budget session of the House.
Hasina said a special committee was formed to prepare a report on the amendments of the constitution and submit the report to Parliament.
"We wanted the name from the opposition for the committee but they did not respond. They could give their name and discuss what they want in the committee," she told the House. She assured that the Special Committee would be reconstituted if the opposition gives their name.
Criticizing the opposition role, the Prime Minister said it is difficult to understand the mindset of the opposition that "does not care Parliament and court verdict."
She alleged that the opposition doesn't want the continuation of the democratic process in the country.
In this regard, Hasina said that during the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) election, the BNP raised the issue of vote rigging, but they won in the election. "Can we say they (BNP) did the vote rigging in the election being in the opposition party?"
She said that the BNP and its allies did not want the democracy and the voting rights of the people as "they took birth illegally."
The Prime Minister mentioned that the opposition called the June 27 strike "without having any issue and set fire to Faruk after bringing him down from a vehicle."
She also said that the picketers hit engineer Kashem with blunt instrument. "This is their character; they always wanted to kill people like they did after 2001."
She said that the BNP-Jammal alliance by forming the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) had "killed around 400 people" in the first year of the formation of the RAB.

 Plots at Cox’s Bazar beach
HC declares scrapping of lease valid

UNB, Dhaka

The High Court on Thursday declared valid a government action that had scrapped the lease of 39 plots in the hotel-motel zone of Cox's Bazar sea beach allocated during the last BNP-Jamaat alliance rule.
Passing the judgment upon several identical writ petitions, a division bench comprising Justice M Momtazuddin Ahmed and Justice Naima Haider discharged the rules with a six-point directive.
On January 12 this year, the Awami League-led grand alliance government scrapped the lease of 59 plots on about 60 acres of land in the hotel-motel zone of Cox's Bazar sea beach.
The lease agreements of the plots were scrapped for violating the conditions of long-term lease.
The High Court in its directives asked the Director General of the Department of Environment (DoE) to take steps for demarcating and officially declaring the Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) as defined under the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 and submitting a report to the court within six months.
As per the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, the ECA is an environmental protection zone where ecosystem is considered to have reached a critical state.
In April 1999, Director General of the Department of Environment (DoE) officially declared an area of nearly 400 square kilometres as ECAs, including Teknaf Peninsula covering Cox's Bazar sea beach but not the buffer zones.
The HC also asked the authorities to appoint a director for protecting the area and display a signboard marking the area as ECA.
In addition, the HC allowed the disappointed writ petitioners to take back their earnest money against the lease if they wish and their applications would be considered during any such offer of lease in future.
After coming to power in 1996, the Awami League government took up a plan to build an international standard hotel-motel zone on about 112 acres of government land along the Cox's Bazar sea beach. Before leaving power, the then government had prepared a design of 107 plots of one acre each.
The BNP-Jamaat alliance government that assumed office in 2001 then distributed plots among its ministers, lawmakers, their relatives and party leaders and workers. The proposed hotel-motel zone has since been known as BNP Palli.

 Govt wants to change constitution to suppress opposition: Delwar

UNB, Dhaka

BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain Thursday said the government's move to amend the constitution is designed to suppress the opposition.
Calling the government 'illegal' as it came to power through "farce and stage-managed' election he said the government has no right to amend the Constitution
Delwar made the remarks at a press briefing at the BNP's central office in the afternoon a day after the formation of a 15-member Special Committee to prepare report on amendments to the Constitution in the light of the High Court verdict scrapping the 5th Amendment.
The BNP secretary general said although Special Committee was formed in constitutional way but no specific terms of reference of the Committee were spelt out like what Article or Clause of the Constitution will be amended or whether the entire Constitution amended.
He said the matter remains ambiguous, which seems that the government wants to do whatever it wants.
Delwar questioned does the government want to revive the Fourth Amendment by amending the Constitution to destroy the opposition through reestablishing one-party rule.
On the party's July 25 mass hunger strike, he criticized the dilly-dallying process of the National Sport Council (NSC) to give permission to use Paltan Maidan.
The BNP leader said they have submitted application seeking the permission on July 8 but the NSC has yet not given the permission.
He asked the government to give its decision on the use of Paltan Madian by Thursday. He urged the government to show democratic gesture by shunning 'autocratic' mentality.
Delwar came down heavily on two national vernacular dailies for publishing what he called imaginary reports to tarnish the image of Khaleda Zia and her family members.
He urged the owners of the dailies not to compel the reporters to write reports to serve their purposes. Consequently, he said people would loss their confidence in journalists, he added.

    BoI chief blames bureaucratic bottlenecks for FDI cut
BSS, Dhaka

Executive Chairman of Board of Investment (BoI) Dr SA Samad blamed bureaucratic bottlenecks for a nosedive in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) last year.
Speaking on the occasion of global launching of the yardstick report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Dr Samad said he did not get much complaint from potential investors about the power and energy crisis.
But, he understands that there are still some drawbacks in the bureaucracy, which needs to be addressed effectively.
He said the activities of BoI had already been streamlined to provide potential investors with faster and better services.
He, however, admitted that the power and gas shortages impeded the investment prospect, and hoped the scenario would improve significantly with the improvement in power generation, which the government planned for the power sector.
The World Investment Report (WIR) for 2010 of UNCTAD recorded over US$300 million fall in the FDI inflow to Bangladesh when the country received a net US$1.13 billion investment from overseas.
The report held late impact of the global recession responsible for the downturn in FDI in many countries, including Bangladesh, but projected a rebound this year should the global recovery go unhindered. Likewise, Dr Samad also believed that Bangladesh would get more investments from overseas as the country offered most attractive incentives to the investors.
The UNCTAD on Thursday launched the 20th World Investment Report (WIR) at the Ifo Institute in Munich, Germany.
BoI arranged a programme on the occasion at its office in the city when Privatization Board Chairman Dr Mirza Abdul Jalil was present. Dr Ismail Hossain, a senior professor of the department of economics of Jahangirnagar University, presented the key features of the report.
Referring to the report, Dr Ismail hopped the inflow would rebound if the global recovery continues and power and energy issues are addressed effectively.
The report presents the latest data on foreign direct investment (FDI) around the world. It also traces global and regional trends in investment and international production by transnational corporations (TNCs).

    Mongla port to be upgraded to boost economy
UNB, Bagerhat

Country's second largest seaport Mongla will be upgraded to international standard soon.
The government took the initiative for boosting country's economic growth, particularly in south-western region. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has already been signed between the port authorities and David Wignal Associate, a Singapore-based private company, in this connection.
Sources said various uplift works involving Tk 21,000 crore would be spent for upgrade works.
Mongla port authority chairman Commodore M Faruk told UNB that the Singaporean private company is now carrying out feasibility study on how to carry out the development works properly.
The project works include construction of international standard jetty, a power generation plant and a water treatment plant, industrial park, container terminal, establishing cable car with Sundarbans, channel preservation, ensuring navigability through dredging, port expansion and ensuring utilization of port through transit trade with India, China, Nepal ad Bhutan.
As per agreement, all development works are scheduled to be completed by 2030.
Once vibrant, the activities of the Mongla port at present slowed down due to illegal activities of Mafia in home and abroad, labour unrest, corruption by a section of port officials and employees and above all indifferent attitude shown by the previous governments.
The present government took various measures for making the sluggish port into dynamic, sources said.
The port was at first established at Chalna in 1950 and later shifted to Mongla, 50km off the district town, on the bank of Pashur River after four years.

    CMH to be upgraded to 1,100-bed hospital soon
BSS, Dhaka

The government will upgrade the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) of Dhaka Cantonment to 1,100-bed from the existing 850-bed soon to provide healthcare services for more armed forces personnel at a time.
Chief of Army Staff General M Abdul Mubeen said this while paying a call on President Zillur Rahman at Bangabhaban on Thursday.
Besides, a 500-bed hospital would be built adjacent to the Armed Forces Medical College in Dhaka Cantonment by May 2011 where civil people would also get treatment side by side with the army personnel, he information the President.
Moreover, he said, construction work of another 100-bed general hospital named Siraj-Khaleda Hospital at the cantonment will be completed by March 2011.
The President expressed his satisfaction over the development work of the hospitals and laid emphasis on extending medical facilities at the CMH at Dhaka Cantonment by procuring modern and world standard equipment.
During the meeting, the Army Chief also apprised the President that he would leave Dhaka on July 24 for visiting operation activities of Bangladeshi Peace Keepers, deployed in various countries including Congo and Ivory Coast.

Back Page

Govt. mulls Education Fund to ensure free education for the poor: PM

UNB, Dhaka

The government has a plan to create an Education Fund to facilitate poor students with free education in a bid to increase literacy rate as well as to ensure higher education for all.
The Prime Minister said this when newly appointed Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarath Kumara Waregoda paid a courtesy call on her at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Thursday morning.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister and the High Commissioner discussed matters of bilateral interest and regional development, Prime Minister's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad said. While discussing education, the Sri Lankan envoy informed the Prime Minister about his country's President's Fund that was set up to provide funds for programmes beneficial to a large segment of the population whose poverty and lack of resources does not enable them to access certain specialized facilities in the health and education sector. In response, the Prime Minister observed that Bangladesh can share Sri Lanka's experience and expertise on education programmes, including the President's Fund, Azad said.
Hasina said investment in education is the best investment, as this is the strongest tool to ensure improving the lot of people by eradicating poverty. "Poverty is the common enemy of the South Asian countries," she said and emphasized on joint efforts of all SAARC member countries to remove poverty from the region. Discussing bilateral trade and business, the Prime Minister requested Sri Lanka to grant zero tariff access to Bangladeshi jute and jute products.
She also urged Sri Lanka to import pharmaceuticals, ceramics, plastic wares and toiletries from Bangladesh, as many developed countries are importing these products of international standard.
Hasina also stressed the need for exploring cooperation in tourism, climate change issues, disaster management, fisheries, health, agriculture, science and ICT, and arts and literature. On terrorism and violence, the Prime Minister reiterated her government's strong stand against all types of terrorism and her government's vow to establish peace for all. As the issues of Chittagong Hill Tracts came up in the discussion, she mentioned the success of her last government in establishing peace in the hilly region through political means by signing the Chittagong Peace Accord.
The Prime Minister also recalled her meetings with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on various occasions. Ambassador at-large M Ziauddin, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister MA Karim and Prime Minister's Office Secretary Mollah Waheeduzzaman were present.

  Flood situation worsens, 100,000 marooned in Brahmaputra basin

BSS, Rangpur

The overall flood situation deteriorated during the past 24 hours till Thursday morning in greater Rangpur and adjoining areas in the Brahmaputra basin as the rising major rivers were flowing above their danger marks (DM) at several points.
The situation sharply deteriorated following continuous rises in the water levels of the major rivers due to huge onrush of hilly waters from the upper catchments and rainfalls in the upstream during the period, official sources said.
About 100,000 people of 200 low-lying char villages in seven upazilas of Kurigram, three upazilas of Gaibandha and Sariakandi upazila of Bogra and some other riverside upazilas of Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Sirajganj have been partially marooned so far. The erosion marked deterioration at places following stronger river currents along the courses of the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Dudhkumar, Jamuna and their tributaries on the Brahmaputra basin devouring some houses with lands during the past few days.
The rivers were still rising with possibilities of further deterioration during the next 24 hours and reports of some moderate rains were received at places during the period till this afternoon, officials in the Water Development Board (WDB) said.
The WDB sources said the Dharla marked sharp rise by 38cm during the past 24 hours period and was flowing 22cm above its DM at Kurigram point at 6am on Tuesday inundating vast char and lowing areas in the district.
The Jamuna marked rises by 4cm, 5cm, 4cm and 10cm at Bahadurabad, Sariakandi, Sirajganj and Aricha points during the period and was flowing 8cm above the DM at Bahadurabad and 16cm above the DM at Sariakandi and 34cm and 86cm below its respective DM at Sirajganj and Aricha points since Thursday morning.
The Brahmaputra rose by 7cm to flow 10cm above its DM at Fulchhari point in Gaibandha and rose by more 7cm to flow at its DM at Chilmari in Kurigram and also rose by 17cm to flow only 99cm below its DM at Noonkhawa point at 6am this morning.
The Ghaghot marked another rise by 2cm at Gaibandha during the period to flow only 38cm below its DM there and the Upper Atrai rose by 85cm to flow only 17cm below the DM at Bhusirbandar since Thursday morning.
The Teesta marked rises by 13cm at Dalia, 43cm at Kawnia in Rangpur and rose by 10cm at Sundarganj points during the past 24 hours and was flowing only 2cm, 75cm and 68cm below the respective DM at these points at 6am on Thursday morning.
The Karatoa sharply rose by 43cm, 3cm and 50cm at Chak Rahimpur, Bogra and Panchagarh points and was flowing 224cm, 452cm and 95cm below its respective DM at these points at 6 am on Thursday.

    Reverting to 1972 constitution a must: Suranjit
BSS, Dhaka

Awami League Advisory Council Member and Co-Chairman of All-Party Parliamentary Committee on Constitution Amendment Suranjit Sengupta on Tuesday said the restoration of the 1972 constitution is a must in the interest of democracy and the people.
"No lenience for those involved in crime against humanity during the Liberation War. They must be tried on the soil of this country," he said while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion meeting on 'War Crimes Trial: '72 Constitution Revival'.
Sheikh Russel Memorial Academy organised the discussion meeting at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium in the city. Awami League Presidium Member and eminent lawyer Yusuf Hossain Humayun attended the function as the main speaker.
Yusuf Hossain Humayun said those do not believe in independence, Bangalee nationalism and democracy are against reverting to 1972 constitution.
He said Ziaur Rahman exonerated the people who were accused under the 'Dadal Ain' (collaborators act) and rehabilitated in politics. The process has started to try those who were involved in crimes against humanity during the Liberation War and their trials must be ensured, he added. Suranjit Sengupta said BNP is in crisis regarding the constitution amendment.
He said BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain is making flimsy statements on the issue which go against the constitution.
Sengupta posed a question whether the 11th and the 12th amendments of the constitution during the BNP regime were in conformity with the constitution.

    Purchase body okays 7 proposals
2 peaking power plants to cost Tk 632 crore

UNB, Dhaka

The cabinet purchase committee on Thursday approved seven proposals including two 50MW peaking power plants at a cost of around Tk 632 crore. The approval was given at a meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith at the Cabinet Division.
Shantahar 50MW plant and Katakhali 50MW plant, both based on furnace oil, will be set up by Dongfang Electric Corporation of China. Shantahar plant will cost Tk 319.94 crore while Katakhali plant about Tk 311.87 crore.
The cabinet committee also approved procurement of one lakh metric tons of wheat and 30,000 metric tons of boiled Basmati rice. The Food Department will procure 50,000 metric tons of wheat through M/S Honey B Private Limited at Tk 85.03 crore or US$ 244.35 per metric ton.
Another 50,000 metric tons of wheat would be procured through M/S Alam Trading Company at Tk 76.91 crore or US$ 221.35 per ton.
However, 30,000 metric tons of boiled Basmati rice would be procured through M/S Indo Sino Trade and its local agent M/S Zahara Grains at Tk 97.70 crore or US$ 467.92 per ton.
The meeting also approved the addendum of the consultation farm for the construction of Dopdopia Bridge on Barisal-Patuakhali highway (2nd revised) under the financial assistance of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED). Kuwait Consulting Investment Company in association with ACE Egypt and DDC Bangladesh were given the consultancy at revised to Tk 14.92 crore from Tk 8.79 crore. A proposal for appointment of consultants for Technical Feasibility Studies and Detailed Design for Coastal Embankment Improvement Programme (CEIP) under the project of 'Emergency 2007 Cyclone Recovery & Restoration Project (ECRRP) involving Tk 11.44 crore was also approved at the meeting.
Consultant Engineering Services India Private Limited is the lead farm with DEV Consultant Limited Bangladesh, Design Planning and Management Consultant of Bangladesh and Kranti Associated Limited Bangladesh were awarded the consultancy.

    Mother’s Aussie reunion with Bangladeshi miracle twins
AFP, Melbourne

A Bangladeshi woman whose conjoined twin daughters were parted in marathon surgery in Australia has embraced them separately for the first time, the children's guardian said Thursday.
Trishna and Krishna, born with their skulls and brains fused, were separated in a complex 32-hour operation last December, after being rescued from a Dhaka orphanage by Australian aid workers convinced they faced certain death. Their incredible survival through the risky surgery was hailed a miracle around the world.
Their mother, Lovely Goldar, had given up the girls shortly after birth in the hope they would receive medical care. Goldar, 24, had finally been reunited with her three-year-old daughters in Melbourne, Australian guardian Moira Kelly said Thursday.
"The last time she saw her children was horrific for any human being, so it was very important to create a very special memory for her now, because it was going to be something that was implanted in her heart and her mind," Kelly said.
"Trishy came up and warmed to us so beautifully and hugged the two of us, started wiping our tears, and of course mum then just put her arms around the little girl. It gives me goosebumps now, it was a really special moment." Though the girls are to remain in Australia until they were older and in better health, Kelly said she would "love" them to eventually return to Bangladesh, and said she wanted Goldar to remain in their lives.
"We would like Lovely to be a part of the girls' lives, watch the girls grow up and any big milestones," she said.

    President, PM greet Egyptian counterpart on National Day
BSS, Dhaka

President Zillur Rahman on Thursday extended his greetings to Egyptian President Mohamed Hosny Mubarak on the occasion of its July Revolution and National Day.
In a message to the Egyptian president, he said, "I firmly believe that the existing bilateral relations that so happily exist between our two countries will continue to grow and flourish in depth and dimension to the mutual benefit of our two peoples in the years to come."
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday felicitated her Egyptian counterpart Ahmad Mahmoud Mohammed Nazif on the occasion of its July Revolution and National Day.
"I am confident that the existing bonds of friendship which have developed over the years will be further strengthened and consolidated in the years ahead to the mutual benefit of our two peoples," Sheikh Hasina said in a message.
She wished the Egyptian premier good health, happiness and long life and continued peace, progress and prosperity of the brotherly people of Egypt.

Editorial

Attaining fish production target

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the National Fisheries Week-2010 on Wednesday with a call for all-out efforts to attain the fish production target of 29 lakh metric tons this year. The Fisheries Week is being observed with the theme "Increase Fish Production, Ensure Food Security." She directed the Ministry concerned to introduce 'Fisherman's Card' to allow the government's cash incentives and other facilities to directly reach the country's fishermen. The Prime Minister also said the government is actively considering recruiting filed workers up to union level to ensure the expansion of fish cultivation technology and services to the fish cultivators in every village according to their need.
Sheikh Hasina said her government enacted the Fish Hatchery Act 2010 and the Fish and Animal Feed Act 2010 for protecting the interests of the fish cultivators through producing quality fish fry and fish feed. Terming unplanned construction of roads and embankments, dumping of toxic industrial waste to the rivers, use of insecticides in agriculture lands and siltation of rivers as the main reasons for the dwindling fish production, the Prime Minister said her government has undertaken a number of measures including dredging of rivers and establishing Effluent Treatment Plants in the industrial complexes.
The call for attaining the fish production target has come from the Prime Minister at a time when the country is faced with a severe fish crisis due to shortfall in production. Fishes are among the most common and popular food items of the people of Bangladesh, but fishes are becoming scarce day by day much to the disappointment of all. Moreover, at a time when fishes continue to be dearer with every passing day, press reports said that at least 57 indigenous species of sweet water fish, particularly small ones, in the southern region are disappearing fast. These varieties may be extinct within next ten years. Frequent and indiscriminate use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers on agricultural lands, farming hybrid and carp varieties of fish are responsible for destroying the fish resources. Excessive fishing due to cope with the rising demand of the growing population, environmental crises like siltation of rivers and drying up of canals, ponds, enclosures, sharp declining of spawning, breeding areas, pollution of water bodies by industrial wastes, chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and lack of fish sanctuaries led to such a situation.
Climate change, deforestation and desertification are some of the major global problems nowadays.. Unfortunately, as a nation we are affected by all these and our country is witnessing frequent floods and other natural calamities while the forest areas are shrinking and rivers, canals, ponds etc are drying up. As a result, the country is running short of adequate water bodies and water resulting in serious shortfall in fish production.
There exists a real threat that sweet water fishes would be extinct from the country if the government fails to take effective steps to protect the canals, water bodies, haors and rivers and ensure the proper atmosphere for spawning of fishes. If we want to preserve our fished used as delicious food items we will have to protect our canals, water bodies, haors and rivers. Otherwise, we will not see sweet water fish in future. Simultaneously, we will have to identify the causes behind the destruction of water bodies and canals.
Besides, we have to go for protecting bio-diversity and controlling water pollution caused by dumping chemical, fuel wastages and using chemical fertilisers on ground to save indigenous species of sweet water fishes and increase their production. To this end, excavation, dredging, preservation of sweet water sources, protecting our canals, water bodies, haors and rivers creating fish-sanctuaries, cultivation of local varieties of fishes and creating awareness and controlling use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are urgently needed. Without taking these measures, talking of or thinking about increasing fish production will be a useless.

 Traffic Congestion

We all know that traffic congestion is a serious problem for the city dwellers, but most people are unaware of the losses it causes. According to media reports published on Thursday, Traffic congestion in Dhaka city causes losses amounting to Tk 20,000 crore a year, said a study presented at a seminar on 'Traffic Congestion in Dhaka City and its impact on business: Some remedial measures.' The report identified inadequate transport infrastructure against transport demand, urban development without traffic impact assessment and inadequate capacity of intersections as the main causes for traffic congestion in Dhaka city. The report estimates traffic jams cause up to 3.20 million business hours to be lost every day, which is about an hour per working person.
Chaired by MCCI president Anis-ud-Dowla, the seminar was also addressed, among others by Home Minister Sahara Khatun, Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University Dr Ainun Nishat, president of Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Sayed Rezaul Hayet, Additional Chief Engineer of Roads & Highways Engineer Belal and DMP Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haq. The report said 8.16 million hours are wasted every day, causing a loss of around Tk 2,000 crore every year. It was suggested at the seminar that Introduction of mass transport facilities, high capacity public bus rationalized routes and route franchising by competitive tendering, grade separators at all the level crossings, increasing east west connectivity, commuter trains and development of road intersections could help reduce traffic congestion in the capital.
The revelation made at the seminar is startling and alarming. Traffic congestion kills our time, gives pains and also causes financial losses to us, but we seem almost unable to get rid of this. The government has been applying various methods and plans to ease the traffic congestion in the capital, but all in vain. The crisis is deepening with every passing day. Against this backdrop, the government should make a last ditch attempt to ease the traffic jam in the city.

Analysis

It’s not worth it, America

The war being waged by the United States in Afghanistan today is fundamentally different and more ambitious than anything carried out by the Bush administration.

Richard N Haas

GOP chairman Michael Steele was blasted by fellow Republicans recently for describing Afghanistan as "a war of Obama's choosing," and suggesting that the United States would fail there, as had many other outside powers. Some critics berated Steele for his pessimism, others for getting his facts wrong, given that President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan soon after 9/11.
But Steele's critics are the ones who are wrong: the RNC chair was more correct than not on the substance of his statement, if not the politics.
The war being waged by the United States in Afghanistan today is fundamentally different and more ambitious than anything carried out by the Bush administration.
Afghanistan is very much Barack Obama's war of choice, a point that the president underscored recently by picking Gen. David Petraeus to lead an intensified counterinsurgency effort there. After nearly nine years of war, however, continued or increased US involvement in Afghanistan isn't likely to yield lasting improvements that would be commensurate in any way with the investment of American blood and treasure. It is time to scale down our ambitions there and both reduce and redirect what we do.
The first thing we need to recognise is that fighting this kind of war is in fact a choice, not a necessity. The Bush administration was less clear on what to do next. Working in the State Department at the time, I was appointed by President Bush as the US government's coordinator for the future of Afghanistan. At a National Security Council meeting chaired by the president in October 2001, I was the one arguing that once the Taleban were removed from power there might be a short-lived opportunity to help establish a weak but functional Afghan state.
There and at subsequent meetings I pressed for a US military presence of some 25,000-30,000 troops (matched by an equal number from NATO countries) to be part of an international force that would help maintain order after the invasion and train Afghans until they could protect themselves. My colleagues in the Bush administration had no interest in my proposal.
By the time Obama became president in 2009, the situation inside Afghanistan was fast deteriorating. The Taleban were regaining a foothold. There was concern in Washington that if left unchecked they could soon threaten the existence of the elected government in Kabul headed by Hamid Karzai. Trends were judged to be so bad that the president ordered 17,000 more American combat troops to Afghanistan even before the first review he'd ordered up was finished. Since then Obama has had several opportunities to reassess US goals and interests in Afghanistan, and in each instance he has chosen to escalate.
Today the counterinsurgency strategy that demanded all those troops is clearly not working. While the surge of US forces has pushed back the Taleban in certain districts, the Karzai government has been unable to fill the vacuum with effective governance and security forces that could prevent the Taleban's return. So far the Obama administration is sticking with its strategy; indeed, the president went to great lengths to underscore this when he turned to Petraeus to replace Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Kabul. No course change is likely until at least December, when the president will find himself enmeshed in yet another review of his Afghan policy.
This will be Obama's third chance to decide what kind of war he wants to fight in Afghanistan, and he will have several options to choose from, even if none is terribly promising. The first is to stay the course: to spend the next year attacking the Taleban and training the Afghan Army and police, and to begin reducing the number of US troops in July 2011 only to the extent that conditions on the ground allow. Presumably, if conditions are not conducive, Petraeus will try to limit any reduction in the number of US troops and their role to a minimum. This approach is hugely expensive, however, and is highly unlikely to succeed.
There are, however, other options. One is reconciliation, a fancy word for negotiating a ceasefire with those Taleban leaders willing to stop fighting in exchange for the chance to join Afghanistan's government. It is impossible, though, to be confident that many Taleban leaders would be prepared to reconcile; they might decide that time is on their side if they only wait and fight. Nor is it likely that the terms they would accept would in turn be acceptable to many Afghans, who remember all too well what it was like to live under the Taleban. A national-unity government is farfetched.
One new idea put forward by Robert Blackwill, a former US ambassador to India, is for a de facto partition of Afghanistan. Under this approach, the United States would accept Taleban control of the Pashtun-dominated south so long as the Taleban did not welcome back Al Qaeda and did not seek to undermine stability in non-Pashtun areas of the country. If the Taleban violated these rules, the United States would attack them with bombers, drones, and Special Forces. US economic and military support would continue to flow to non-Pashtun Afghans in the north and west of the country.
This idea has its drawbacks as well as appeal. A self-governing "Pashtunistan" inside Afghanistan could become a threat to the integrity of Pakistan, whose own 25 million Pashtuns might seek to break free to form a larger Pashtunistan. Any partition would also be resisted by many Afghans, including those Tajik, Baluchi, and Hazara minorities living in demographic "islands" within the mostly Pashtun south, as well as the Tajiks, Uzbeks, and others elsewhere in the country who want to keep Afghanistan free of Taleban influence. And even many Pashtuns would resist for fear of the harsh, intolerant rule the Taleban would impose if given the chance.
Another approach, best termed "decentralisation," bears resemblance to partition but also is different in important ways. Under this approach, the United States would provide arms and training to those local Afghan leaders throughout the country who reject Al Qaeda and who do not seek to undermine Pakistan. Pakistan is much more important than Afghanistan given its nuclear arsenal, its much larger population, the many terrorists on its soil, and its history of wars with India. But Pakistan's future will be determined far more by events within its borders than those to its west. The good news is that the Army shows some signs of understanding that Pakistan's own Taleban are a danger to the country's future, and has begun to take them on.
All this argues for reorienting US Afghan policy toward decentralisation - providing greater support for local leaders and establishing a new approach to the Taleban. The war the US is now fighting in Afghanistan is not succeeding and is not worth waging in this way. The time has come to scale back US objectives and sharply reduce US involvement on the ground. Afghanistan is claiming too many American lives, requiring too much attention, and absorbing too many resources. The sooner we accept that Afghanistan is less a problem to be fixed than a situation to be managed, the better.

Richard Hass is Chairman of the US Council on Foreign Relations and the author of War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars.

  Walking away from peace

There can be no doubt at all that Pakistan, most urgently of all, but also India has no real choices but to move towards peace. Unless this can be built militancy will continue.

Kamila Hyat

The men and women who draft headlines have been having a field day. Clever phrases have appeared in English, Urdu, Persian and no doubt other languages to describe the farcical talks between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan which led nowhere at all despite prolonged bouts of dialogue.
Attempts at damage control in the immediate aftermath of the debacle are somewhat pointless. They cannot hide the fact that very little, if anything at all, was achieved when Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Mr S M Krishna met in Islamabad.
The clumsy attacks launched on his Indian counterpart by an obviously angry and embarrassed Qureshi only made things look worse.
The suggestions that Mr Krishna was taking instructions from somewhere other than the prime minister's office are attempts to poke fingers where they have no business to be. Diplomacy demands greater grace and more maturity.
But we need to understand the dynamics of what went wrong.
There can be no doubt at all that Pakistan, most urgently of all, but also India has no real choices but to move towards peace. Unless this can be built militancy will continue. New Delhi should keep in mind the kind of unrest we currently see in Indian-Held Kashmir has been a key factor in triggering the rise of militant groups which today threaten both countries.
The Pakistani side has alluded over and over again to India's focus on terrorism as a key factor in the Islamabad stalemate. There could indeed be some truth in this. But there are also facts that have to be faced up to. The disclosures by David Coleman Headley pointing to links in the context of the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai are unsettling.
There are other aspects too that cannot be ignored.
During recent raids in the Punjab, as police rounded up dozens of activists of banned militants outfits, the Jaish-e-Muhammad of Maulana Masood Azhar was left untouched. Like Hafiz Saeed, Azhar too is said to have had a long relationship with the ISI. It is a bit difficult to believe that the fact his group was left alone is purely a coincidence. Logic dictates that there is a pattern and that almost everyone follows its distinct lines. It is this pattern that needs to be change if a new relationship between India and Pakistan is to be established in the future. Suspicion on the part of New Delhi that this is the case is damaging.
The Indian government and its advisers are not alone in this thinking. There are many in our own country too who are equally convinced of this, though self-imposed restrictions within the media bring a reluctance to mention secret agencies that persists even in an age of far greater freedom for the Press. The issue is rarely talked about openly or freely.
But in many ways the thinking that at least some elements adhere to determines the nature of our state. The idea of a security paradigm stands at the centre of it and determines much of what happens. The notion that India is an enemy state is deeply-rooted in our psyche. Small children imbibe the ideas that underpin this from peers, from teachers and from elders. For those who benefit from keeping alive the idea of a giant dragon breathing down our necks from the East there is of course still more temptation to keep tensions high and prevent the monster from being tamed. This temptation alone could be enough to keep intact the mindset of hatred constructed over many decades.
The same modes of thinking exist too within India. The identification of the LeT as the primary force behind the terrorism in that country ignores the fact that this force was conjured up in response to Indian actions in Kashmir. New Delhi too needs to engage in exercises aimed at loosening fixed thought if it is genuinely committed to the peace process.
If they are to safeguard their future, both countries must find this commitment. The need to invest in people is essential to both countries. They can do so only if they recognize that security interests cannot be served through military means. The failure to do so is evident in the fact that some six decades after the military build-up began on either side of the border dividing them, the two countries are today more insecure than ever. Militancy threatens people in all their largest cities, instability across the region is higher than ever and the issues that fuel it remain unresolved. Clearly a change in tactic is needed.
The latest failure leaves behind debris which can be gathered up and used to build success. The evidently harsh exchanges between the foreign ministers that took place from time to time in Islamabad have at least made it clear what the central issues are for both sides. Pakistan's focus on Kashmir is apt in that militancy cannot fully be overcome until that issue is addressed; at the same time levels of trust necessary to do so can be created only if efforts are made to tackle the terrorist threat and the factors behind it.
It is necessary to move on. It is unlikely that there will be any sprint towards peace. But like a well-planned middle-distance race, a careful strategy needs to be devised to finally reach the winning line - even if this is possible only after a great deal of jostling and shoving through the course of a steadily run race.


The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor

Viewpoints

Is US replaying Iraq in Iran?

There is no supportable evidence that Iran is planning to build nuclear weapons. UN inspections and even US intelligence reports fail to support this conclusion.

Lawrence Davidson

On July 15, 2010 Time Magazine carried an article entitled, "An Attack on Iran: Back on the Table." According to the piece, the point man for this growing belligerency is Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. It is to be noted that when the same Gates served the infamous George W. Bush (the year was 2008), he actually helped talk that president out of attacking Iran. At the time we were bogged down in Iraq and so yet another war in the Middle East was, according to Gates, "the last thing we need." Now it is 2010 and we are bogged down in Afghanistan. No matter, Gates appears to have changed his mind. Or perhaps, he has been instructed to do so. "I don't think we're prepared to even talk about a nuclear Iran....We do not accept the idea of Iran having nuclear weapons."
All of this is mighty strange. First of all, there is no supportable evidence that Iran is planning to build nuclear weapons. UN inspections and even US intelligence reports fail to support this conclusion. This being the case, why does Gates speak as if a nuclear Iran is imminent? One possibility is that he and others in Washington are working from assumptions based on what the US would do if it was in Iran's shoes. To understand this better we can ask what Gates and President Barack Obama would do if, magically transformed into Iran's leaders, they were confronted with the following questions and answers?
Who backed Saddam Hussein in his war on Iran? The United States. Who attacked Iraq and then blamed much of the resistance coming from Shiite quarters on Iran? The United States. Who has virtually surrounded Iran with potentially hostile military bases? The United States. Who has very likely abetted violent terror attacks by some of Iran's minority groups? The United States. Who now speaks of Iran in tones remarkably similar to those used for Iraq prior to invasion of that country? The United States. Who speaks almost daily of launching a military attack on Iran? America's No. 1 "ally" Israel. Who characterized Iran as one of the three "rogue" states making up the Axis of Evil? The United States. And finally, and perhaps most relevant to our present situation, which one of those three "rogue" states has not been invaded or threatened with attack by the United States? The one with the nuclear weapons (North Korea). The defense secretary does not have to be a genius to assume that, despite the lack of hard evidence, Iran might very well seek to be nuclear armed. Because that is almost certainly what Washington would do if it was in Tehran's place.
At this point someone ought to stop and ask why the United States cares if Iran has one or two or three nuclear warheads for defensive purposes? In modern times Iran has never invaded or even attacked another country unless it was attacked first. The whole notion that Amadinejad wants to "wipe Israel off the map" is a Zionist propaganda story based on a mistranslated speech. It is on the same level as the neocon tale about Iraqi soldiers throwing Kuwaiti infants out of incubators. Also, given the description above, the US could easily help remove most of the fears that might be driving Iran in a nuclear direction. That is because those fears are mostly a function of American policies. Just a month or so ago Washington actually had an opportunity to lay this whole nuclear controversy to rest when Turkey and Brazil succeeded in negotiating third party enrichment for Iran's nuclear fuel. Obama failed to pursue it. Instead, he has sent Gates out to talk tough. To tell us that the "military option is back on the table." The Time also informs us that US Army Central Command "which is in charge of organizing military operations in the Middle East" has "made real progress in planning targeted air strikes (against Iran)." And, perhaps the scariest part of all this, "Israel has been brought in to the planning process."
There is something not right about this. We are missing a vital piece to this puzzle. I want to say that I usually do not believe in reducing complicated issues to a one simple cause. But I must confess, that when I think about our present situation relative to Iran, my mind is taken back to John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's The Israeli Lobby, and particularly to the 32 pages they devote to showing what a great role the American Zionists and their neocon allies played in getting George W. Bush, the Congress, and much of the American public so hyped up with lies and distortions that we all ran right off the cliff into a disastrous war. How many Americans remember that? How many news reporters, who like to pretend to be professional journalists, point this out to their readers and listeners? On both accounts it seems the answer is precious few. Our incredibly short historical memory is a serious problem and it means that our history can repeat itself.
The Time article tries to soften its message by asserting that Obama is still "skeptical...about a military strike." It implies that Obama knows that such an action would "unify the Iranian people" and also "unify much of the world including Russia and China...against a recowboyfied US." We might add to this that Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon would likely explode in an anti-US and anti-Israel frenzy. The Gulf oil lanes would turn into a battle ground and Hezbollah would likely proceed to make northern Israel uninhabitable.
Even if this assessment of an aware and skeptical Obama is accurate, surely the president is still playing with fire when he helps sustain the Iran nuclear hype. So we must ask why he risks scaring the American public in a manner reminiscent of the Bush administration? If we follow the Mearsheimer and Walt line, and I think there is something to it, the most likely answer is that he seeks to mollify the American Zionists so as to politically neutralize them through the November elections. After all, given the power of the American Zionist lobby, Middle East foreign policy has been converted to domestic political policy.
If Obama is in fact hyping the Iran nuclear issue for domestic political gain, it is a foolish strategy. The Zionist lobby will work very hard against Obama and the Democrats come November whatever tact he takes on Iran. He is also setting himself up for the accusation of being soft on the Iranians when, hopefully, he does not follow through on Gates' belligerent talk. This may, unfortunately, come back to bite him in the next presidential election. It would be much wiser to tell the truth about both Iran and Israel. Tell the American people that Iran is no real threat to the United States, but Israel and its Zionist operatives always have been and still are a great threat. They have drained us of much national treasure, they have corrupted our Congress and political parties, and they contributed to our unnecessary but horridly bloody invasion of Iraq.
And now they want us to attack Iran. Morton Klein the fanatical leader of the Zionist Organization of America wants you to believe that a nuclear Iran will give atomic weapons to terrorists. To avoid this Washington will be forced into an "unending series of concessions" amounting to "nuclear blackmail" (Philadelphia Inquirer, July 17, 2010). There is not a shred of evidence for this assertion and a lot of evidence that suggests it is absolutely wrong. The Iranians fear and dislike the Sunnis of Al-Qaeda. They have cooperated with the US, even under the Bush administration, in the "war against terrorism." And, they have their own terrorist problems that encourages them to continue to aid us in this regard. But, Klein and his Zionist cohort, are not interested in facts. They are interested in solidifying the fraying American alliance with Israel. Scare tactics serve their purpose, just as they did in the case of Iraq. And Obama seems to be going along with this fraudulent campaign.
It is a dangerous situation. It bears repeating that Americans have short historical memories and are easily manipulated by the media and government spokesmen who supply most of them with "the news." If history does repeat itself, don't blame Iran. More accurately you can blame the American Zionists and their new partners in propaganda, the Obama administration.


Lawrence Davidson works in the Department of History, West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania.

  NATO should open its doors to Russia

Russia can choose when it wants to be involved in military or peacekeeping action. Meanwhile, inside NATO it can make its voice heard in a way it can't at the UN.
 
Jonathan Power

Not long ago Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's National Security advisor, told me that the Ukraine "smelt more like Europe" and that the West should concentrate on bringing Ukraine into Western institutions like NATO and even the European Union.
If I had more time with Brzezinski I would have said that if it hadn't been for Russian resolve the Mongol and Tartar hordes would have conquered Moscow and quickly afterwards the rest of Russia. They would have turned Russia into an Islamic society that would have undermined the Christian civilization of both Russia and Europe.
Likewise, the Christian-influenced West owes much of the preservation of its religious beliefs to the Constantinople-based Eastern Orthodox Church. Constantine, who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity, moved the centre of the Church to Constantinople and it became the Byzantine Empire.
When the Ottomans ravaged Constantinople in 1453 the Byzantine Empire was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. But later, driven out of Constantinople, the Eastern Orthodox Church moved to Moscow under the patronage of Grand Duke Ivan 111, ruler of Muscovy, leaving a rump Byzantine to limp along until the end of the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century. Until 1917 and the red revolution the Tsars believed they were the proper heirs to Eastern Orthodoxy with its pedigree that reaches back to Emperor Constantine.
Russia is many ways, despite its tradition of continuous authoritarianism, has been an important centre of European culture, with its composers, its literature, its art, its ballet and its orchestras. We only have to think of Chekov, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rimsky Korsakov, Shostakovich, the Hermitage museum and the Bolshoi and Kirov ballet. Only Gogol came from the Ukraine. Indeed there is an argument that no other country has produced so many endeavours in so many of the arts. Ukraine "smells" more European? That's doubtful.
In the New York Times, Nicolai Petro, an advisor under George G W Bush on policy towards the Soviet Union writes that Ukraine for 300 years was part of Russia: "Given the deep historical ties, it was probably a fool's errand to try to set Ukraine against Russia [under President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush], especially by forcing Ukraine to chose between Russia and Europe. This is a false choice.....We can have both countries join Europe together".....We should "replace the misguided divide and conquer policy."
Undoubtedly Russia is more European than Ukraine but they should both approach Europe in tandem. Yet as Clinton decided with the East Europeans, waiting for the EU to absorb them was going to be a slow process so he decided to go the NATO route, which was more straightforward and relatively easy to do. Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin have all made speeches in which they have argued for Russia to be part of the "European house." They were ignored. But now the "reset" button has been pressed it is time to reconsider how Russia could enter Europe. As Brzezinski argued in my lengthy interview with him in Prospect magazine, the UK's most influential intellectual journal, more could have been done under Clinton and Bush to bring the Soviet Union and later Russia into the European orbit. But the same argument applies as it did for the East Europeans. Joining NATO should come first as it is an easier jump. It is in America's interest to have Russia bound to a major Western institution rather than being tempted to do its own thing. It would also encourage democratising and pacifying elements in Russia, which President Dmitri Medvedev seems to be struggling for. The Russians are clearly reaching for something important beyond their present loose affiliation with NATO. It has proposed a European Security Treaty. Russia is not seeking a way for the fox to enter the hen house.
Russia and West already cooperate on some critical issues- the Iranian nuclear programme, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change, cyber attacks and international crime and trafficking. They could cooperate more on Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea and the Israel/Palestine conflict, contributing their historical experience and the wisdom that goes with it.
These links need to be tightened. NATO membership is a good way to do it. NATO chains are not that tight. Given its structure that demands unanimity before any action is taken the recent vogue is for "coalitions of the willing." Russia can choose when it wants to be involved in military or peacekeeping action. Meanwhile, inside NATO it can make its voice heard in a way it can't at the UN. For its part the West would be taking a major step forward in persuading the lion to lie down with the lamb.


Jonathan Power is a London-based foreign policy commentator.

 The weapon of choice

It shows that suicide actions constitute only about three per cent of the world's terrorist attacks but are responsible for 48 per cent of the total casualty rate.

Manzar Zaidi

With all its tactical advantages, suicide bombing has become the weapon of choice for terrorist organisations. Authoritative research shows the casualty rate caused by suicide attacks to be disproportionately high as compared to that resulting from other modes of attack. It shows that suicide actions constitute only about three per cent of the world's terrorist attacks but are responsible for 48 per cent of the total casualty rate.
Thus, suicide terrorism, particularly bombing, becomes the weapon of choice for any militant organisation wishing to maximise its gains achieved through violent action, at the same time signalling to the target state that it will not be held back by conventional methods of deterrence.
The resolve of militant organisations is reinforced by the fact that comprehensive methods of protecting target populations from this phenomenon have not emerged so far. Contrary to what a large section of the people think, suicide bombings are not random acts of violence by zealots. Suicide bombing today is mainly an organisational undertaking, and consists of actions planned by some kind of an organisational structure which has an effective network of recruiters, handlers and planners of suicide attacks operating over a certain period of time.
Extremist groups increasingly started using suicide attacks in the years spanning 1980-2000, because they considered it would pay off. Suicide militants sought to compel American and French military forces to abandon Lebanon in 1983, Israeli forces to leave Lebanon in 1985, and again Israeli forces to quit the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in 1994 and 1995. From 1990 onwards, they were used to pressure the Sri Lankan government to create an independent Tamil state and the Turkish government to grant autonomy to the Kurds in the late 1990s. In no case did the militant groups achieve all their objectives, but in the case of Turkey, the militant political cause made more gains after resort to suicide operations than before. Leaders of militant groups have consistently credited suicide operations with contributing to these gains.
The threat implicit in suicide attacks is the message of more attacks to come. This plays upon the psychological mindset of the target audience to convince them of the resolve of the militant group carrying out the bombing. It also exposes the soft underbelly of the state.
The mechanics of this strategic decision-making process is comprehensible in the context of the larger ideological and/or territorial conflict between the state and the terrorist group, since suicide bombing tends to make its appearance in asymmetrical conflicts. The very logic of suicide terrorism is to put psychological pressure on the citizenry of the target state to produce a high level of anxiety, in turn generating pressure on policymakers to concede to terrorist demands, since the terrorists cannot possibly hope to survive an all-out protracted war with the state.
This was quickly recognised as a 'wining strategy' even in the early years of suicide terrorism. The relatively low expenditure-to-effort ratio tends to make the suicide tactic a weapon of choice for groups operating in asymmetrical conflicts, even though there has never been a conflict won by suicide terrorism. The suicide militant group with the most significant military capacity has been the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but it did not have real prospects of controlling the whole of the homeland that it claims, including the Eastern and Northern provinces of Sri Lanka.
As a result, the only coercive strategy available to suicide terrorists is punishment through mounting civilian costs to overwhelm the target state's interest, and so cause it to concede to the terrorists' political demands. Organisations have a static and dynamic personality. The static personality of virtually any organisation is concerned with achieving a given set of objectives within the available resources, subject to external forces. The dynamic personality of an organisation is involved in mundane organisational affairs including administration, finance, adaptability to market forces, training, recruitment, motivation of employees, competing with other organisations and most of all adapting itself to market demands.
In applying this analogy to terrorist organisations, the static personality may remain constant - liberation of a homeland or the prevalence of a particular ideology. Arguably, militant organisations exhibit the same set of dynamic characteristics of the organisational personality: they have target audiences, whose public response is an important determinant of subsequent organisational policies. They compete with other militant organisations to gain dominance in a certain sphere of activity or area, and they use certain tactics according to circumstances, the suicide tactic being one of them.
Clearly, there is some common paradigmatic explanation for why organisations as diverse as Al Qaeda with a global Islamist dominance agenda, LTTE with Tamil nationalism goals, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with a Kurdish ethnic minority liberation mission, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine with its secular Leninist Marxist targets, and many others chose to engage in suicide attacks.
Rationalising the diversity of organisations using this tactic, author Mia Bloom contextualised suicide bombing as part of a campaign to achieve a political purpose. This is achieved by applying psychological pressure to a much larger target population than the actual subset of intended victims of the suicide action, making the state machinery seem vulnerable, and thus tending to boost the morale of the organisation's members.
American researcher Martha Crenshaw postulates terrorism and its subset of suicide terrorism as best comprehended in terms of their strategic function. Suicide terrorism thus follows a pattern of 'collective rationality'. Efficacy is the primary standard by which terrorism is compared with other methods of achieving political goals. Mia Bloom further postulates that terrorist groups adjust their strategies in accordance with 'resonance' - tactics are reformulated in response to changing environments which have a positive or negative effect on public opinion.
Irrational terrorist groups cannot sustain themselves without public approval and may cease to exist altogether. Terrorism, and its sub-category of suicide terrorism, is responsive to the dual trajectories of state reaction and public opinion resulting from previous rounds of terrorist activity.


The writer is a strategic affairs analyst whose work has been published in international journals.

International

Militants looking to trigger India-Pakistan conflict: US
AFP, New Delhi

Top US diplomatic and military officials warned Thursday of fresh attempts by militant groups to push nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan into a military conflict.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said he feared extremists would attempt another operation similar to the 2008 Mumbai attacks in order to goad India into armed retaliation against its neighbour and arch-rival.
Mullen said the Mumbai carnage, which India blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit, had demonstrated how a small group of extremists could have a "strategic impact".
"One of the things that struck me then and is still of great concern is that those terrorists could bring two countries closer (to a possible conflict)," he told reporters on board his plane bound for New Delhi.
India suspended a peace dialogue with Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, which claimed 166 lives, and the two countries have only recently begun to explore a resumption of structured talks.
"I've worried a great deal about a repeat attack, of something like that," Mullen said, adding that he wanted "to focus on making sure this doesn't happen again."
Mullen began a two-day visit to India on Thursday that coincided with a visit by the US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke.
Speaking earlier to reporters in Delhi, Holbrooke said the LeT was just one of a number of regional outfits, along with the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, looking to destabilise South Asia.
"They seem to be growing closer together ... (and) their long-term objective is the same: to create the maximum number of problems between India and Pakistan ... to create a crisis," Holbrooke said.
Both men said combating the LeT was a top priority "I see them starting to emerge as a larger regional to global-at least aspirational-global threat," Mullen said.
India accuses Pakistan of failing to crack down sufficiently on groups like the LeT that operate from bases on its territory, and Indian officials were expected to highlight the same charge during talks with Holbrooke and Mullen.
Meetings were also expected to focus on military cooperation and the situation in Afghanistan, where India is concerned about what it perceives as growing Pakistani influence.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since the division of the sub-continent in 1947 and their relationship has always been beset by mutual mistrust.
Holbrooke rejected the suggestion that India was somehow being sidelined by Pakistani involvement in the Afghan government's plans for reconciliation and reintegration of the Taliban and other groups. "You cannot stabilise Afghanistan without the participation of Pakistan as a legitimate concerned party," he said.

   Nepal parliament to vote today in new bid to elect a PM
AFP, Kathmandu

Nepal's parliamentary speaker announced lawmakers will meet later this week in a fresh bid to elect a new prime minister after MPs failed to agree on a candidate Wednesday. Nepal's Maoists, who have put forward a candidate, are pushing to return to power in the formerly war-racked Himalayan country and end a three-week political vacuum.
"Two prime ministerial candidates were unable to win a majority and the third withdrew his candidacy," parliamentary speaker Subash Chandra Nembang announced to the crowded session.
"We'll have another vote Friday for a run-off," he said, between Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who goes by his nom de guerre of Prachanda, meaning "the fierce one," and Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel. The Maoists, who fought a 10-year battle against the state before entering politics and winning elections in 2008, say that as the largest single party in parliament they should lead the government.
They have put forward Prachanda for the leadership. He served as prime minister after the 2008 vote but quit in May 2009 over a row about the integration of former rebels into the national army. His opponent Poudel is vice chairman of the Nepali Congress, the second-biggest party. The third candidate, Jhala Nath Khanal from the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), opted to withdraw because he knew he would be unable to get the two-thirds support he was seeking. Nepal's parliament, or Constituent Assembly, was elected in 2008 with a two-year mandate to complete the peace process and draft a new national constitution.

  Strained US-Sino ties loom at Asia security forum
AFP, Hanoi

Strained US-China military relations will be the elephant in the room as Asia's largest security forum meets in Vietnam on Friday amid tensions over North Korea, Taiwan and the South China Sea.
A US-South Korea naval drill in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) next week is exacerbating tensions ahead of the Hanoi meet, to be attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. Analysts said the 27-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum was unlikely to bring about a thaw in bilateral military ties, which Beijing froze in January over US weapons sales to Taiwan.
"It's the worst it's been in a long time. US-Sino relations are not in a good place right now," said Ian Storey, a fellow of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
"Particularly significant is that the two militaries aren't talking and there are a lot of issues that they have to discuss."
China suspended military relations in January after Washington unveiled a 6.4-billion-dollar arms package for Taiwan. In May, China rebuffed a planned visit to Beijing by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
US and South Korean plans to hold a series of naval drills from Sunday in response to North Korea's alleged torpedoing of a South Korean warship in March are the latest source of bad blood between Beijing and Washington. The drills off the Korean peninsula-relocated from the Yellow Sea due to Chinese objections-are designed as a warning to nuclear-armed North Korea over the sinking of the warship with the loss of 46 lives, Gates said.

  Philippines to deploy soldiers over water crisis
AFP, Manila

Soldiers will be deployed in the Philippine capital to maintain order amid rising tensions over a water shortage that is affecting millions of people, the government said on Thursday.
Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said the troops would be required to protect trucks as they deliver water to areas of Manila where the taps have run dry following a months-long drought. "We have asked for warm bodies (from the armed forces) to put order to those water stations and water rationing areas," Singson told reporters.
He stressed there had been no rioting yet, but people were starting to become agitated.
"We have received reports of people jumping queues, others throwing their weight around and so on, so we just need to make sure that there is order in those water rationing areas," Singson said. He said the soldiers would also have to guard city workers as they cut off water to people who had illegally tapped into pipes.
Large areas of Manila were submerged just 10 months ago after tropical storm Ketsana brought the worst floods to the capital in a generation, killing 464 people.
But drought in the first half of the year has left the main dam that supplies Manila at critically low levels, and weather forecasters predict normal rainfall will resume only in September. Singson said human error was also to blame for the shortage.
He said water from the dam had been misused for electricity generation this year even when supply shortages were becoming a concern, while years of neglect in not building more dams was a longer-term issue.
Singson said at least three million people, or a quarter of Manila's population, have in recent weeks had their supplies cut off for varying times each day.

  India rebel group open to talks to end 30-year insurgency
AFP, Guwahati, India

A veteran leader of an outlawed rebel group in India's restive northeast said Wednesday the outfit was ready for fresh talks with New Delhi to end a deadly 31-year insurgency.
ULFA, one of the biggest rebel armies in the tea and oil-rich region of Assam, has been fighting for an independent homeland for ethnic Assamese since 1979.
"We are ready to hold preliminary discussions," Bhimkanta Buragohain, 75, one of a slew of jailed leaders of the powerful United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), told reporters after a brief courtroom appearance.
"Everybody should respect the wishes of the people of Assam for peace talks," Buragohain said.
The ULFA leader's statement came on the same day as P.C. Haldar, a former director of the Indian Intelligence Bureau, arrived in Assam state's main city of Guwahati to explore possibilities of opening peace talks. "I am here to prepare the ground for talks," said Haldar, who was named last week as New Delhi's chief representative for talks with ULFA. A fragile peace process between the federal government and ULFA representatives collapsed in 2006 with New Delhi accusing the rebels of stepping up violence and extortion in the region.
"If peace talks start, surely hopes for an end to more than 30 years of violent insurgency in Assam would brighten," said Wasbir Hussain, director of the Centre for Peace and Development Studies in Guwahati.
"Now it depends on the sincerity of both the ULFA and the government in taking the peace process to its logical end," he said.

  Survivors of Khmer Rouge torture centre await justice
AFP, Phnom Penh

In January 1979, as the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed and its leaders fled Phnom Penh, invading Vietnamese troops stumbled upon an abandoned prison with fresh corpses chained to iron beds.
It was Tuol Sleng, or "Hill of the Poisonous Trees", the most infamous of all of the jails run by Pol Pot's murderous regime.
Next week the prison's former chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, will hear the verdict in his trial at a UN-backed tribunal where witnesses have recounted the horrors of a place from which almost no one came out alive. Norng Chan Phal, 40, is one of just a handful of survivors to emerge from the Khmer Rouge regime's main torture centre, liberated by the Vietnamese invasion.
He told the trial last year how, as a child, he saw Tuol Sleng guards threaten, beat and photograph his mother. Soon afterwards she disappeared and was never seen again.

  US looks to deepen SEAsia commitment: Hillary
AFP, Hanoi, Vietnam

The United States looked Thursday to deepen its renewed commitment to Southeast Asia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told her regional counterparts.
"United States is a Pacific nation and we are committed to being an active partner with ASEAN and with all of you," Clinton told ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). She reminded them that last year in Thailand the US "recommitted" to the region.
"Today we will discuss our progress and the concrete steps we are taking to make good on this promise, including new investments in shared priorities and new avenues for cooperation," she said. The region of nearly 600 million people is America's sixth-largest export market and hosts more US business investment than China, she said.
"Our partnership is rooted in common interests," Clinton told her counterparts. "We are committed to assisting the nations of Southeast Asia to remain strong and independent and that each nation enjoys peace, stability, prosperity and access to universal human rights."
Although her reference to human rights was a general one, the issue remains contentious while bilateral ties expand between Vietnam and the US 15 years after normalising relations following the Vietnam War. The US embassy has often commented on rights issues in the country. "We have consistently moved in the direction of engagement and cooperation, even on those issues where we disagree," Clinton said in Hanoi. At a press conference after meeting her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Gia Khiem, Clinton said Vietnam "is on the path to becoming a great nation" with unlimited potential.
"And that is among the reasons why we express concern about arrest and conviction of people of peaceful dissent, attacks on religious groups and curbs on Internet freedom," she said.

 Overnight clashes leave 20 dead in north Yemen
AFP, Sanaa

Fighting overnight between Shiite rebels and army-backed tribes in Yemen's restive north killed 20 people on both sides, a tribal official said on Thursday, raising the death toll in five days of fighting to over 69.
"Violent clashes took place overnight between Huthis and Bin Aziz tribes... leaving 20 dead from both sides," the official said. Yemeni army forces deployed in the area intervened to break up the fighting in Harf Sufyan in the northern Amran province, he added.
The rebels used "different types of weapons" in their attempt to control several locations and tighten a siege on Bin Aziz villages, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Fighting in the mountainous north between the two sides over the past four days had left at least 49 people dead, threatening a fragile truce, tribal and rebel sources had said on Wednesday. Tribal sources had said the confrontations were between the Shiite Huthi rebels and supporters of tribal chief Sheikh Sagheer Aziz, but the rebels said the clashes were with the army, not the tribe. "We are confronting military positions. These are not tribal areas," Mohammed Abdul Salam had told AFP by telephone.
The tribal chief, Sheikh Sagheer Aziz is a member of the parliamentary bloc of the ruling General People's Congress party. Six MPs began a sit-in on Tuesday at the parliament in support of Aziz, demanding government action to end an alleged siege.
Meanwhile, 62 MPs had signed a petition demanding the government "assume responsibility in ending the violations committed by the Huthis," and threatening to suspend their parliamentary membership if the authorities failed to help Aziz.
The Amran region and the neighbouring Saada province have been the scenes of sporadic clashes between the rebels and government-backed tribes. The Huthis complain of political, social and religious marginalisation, and have repeatedly fought with government forces in a conflict that began in 2004, killing thousands and displacing some 250,000 people.
The Huthis and the government have repeatedly exchanged accusations of violating a February ceasefire which ended a six-month round of bloody conflict between the two sides.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia became embroiled in the military fight in November after it accused the rebels of infiltrating its borders, killing one guard and occupying two villages.

   Kosovo declaration did not break international law: UN court

AFP, The Hague

The UN's highest court gave its backing on Thursday to Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, saying the move did not breach international law.
In a non-binding verdict, the International Court of Justice rejected Belgrade's argument that the declaration had no legal basis. Pristina hopes the outcome will lead to more nations recognising its independence.
"The court has concluded ... that the adoption of the declaration of independence of 17 february 2008 did not violate general international law, Security Council resolution 1244, or the constitutional framework," the ICJ's president Hisashi Owada told a crowded courtroom.
"The adoption of that declaration (of independence) did not violate any applicable rule of international law," he added at the court in The Hague.
While there was no immediate reaction from the governments in Belgrade or Pristina, the United States praised the verdict and asked European nations to "unite" behind it. The verdict came after Serbia said backing for the move would imperil borders around the world and urged the court to respect its territorial integrity.
"No frontier in the world and in the region would be safe" if the court supported Kosovo's "secession", Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, who was in The Hague for the verdict, had earlier told the Tanjug news agency. Sixty-nine countries have so far recognised Kosovo as independent, including the United States and all but five of the 27 EU member states. Russia, Serbia's most powerful ally on the world stage, has not.
On the eve of the hearing, the United States reiterated its support for Kosovo's independence during a meeting in Washington between Vice President Joe Biden and Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's prime minister.
Biden "reaffirmed the United States' full support for an independent, democratic, whole and multi-ethnic Kosovo whose future lies firmly within European and Euro-Atlantic institutions," a White House statement said.

  Fears of a new Tora Bora in northern Somalia
AFP, Erigavo

A notorious warlord and arms dealer is training Islamist fighters in the remote mountains of northern Somalia and setting up what local officials fear could become a new Tora Bora.
Mohamed Said Atom, one of a handful of men singled out by the UN Security Council as violating an arms embargo on Somalia, has established bases in the Sanaag mountains straddling Puntland and Somaliland, a senior security official said.
The Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgent group has been mainly active in southern and central Somalia in recent years, focusing its military efforts on trying to topple the western-backed government in Mogadishu.
But the July 11 bombings in Kampala claimed by the Shebab have signalled the group's expanding reach, and activity by Atom's men in Sanaag has stirred concern that the rebels were now poised to destablise the two breakaway states.
"Atom has links with Al-Qaeda and represents the Shebab in the region," said Colonel Mohamed Jama, a senior security official from the semi-autonomous state of Puntland. "We are receiving information that he has mobilised hundreds of Islamist militants in the villages around Sanaag Bari," Jama told AFP. "Our security forces are now fully prepared to launch an offensive against those terrorists who are establishing a safe haven in the region and want to disrupt our stability," he added.
Puntland and the self-proclaimed state of Somaliland, to the east, have been more stable than central and southern Somalia in recent years but they have been wary of late that the Shebab might seek to open up new fronts.
Residents in eastern Puntland's Galgala told AFP that at least 400 fighters were mobilised and trained recently across the region and added that the Shebab's black flag was flying in some villages.

  OSCE agrees on police mission to Kyrgyzstan
AFP, Vienna

Transatlantic security group the OSCE agreed Thursday on the deployment of an international police mission to Kyrgyzstan following last month's deadly ethnic clashes.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said in a statement that its decision-making Permanent Council has decided to send a "police advisory group" comprising 52 international police officers to Kyrgyzstan. The officers would "monitor and advise counterparts in the Kyrgyz police force, with a focus on southern Kyrgyzstan. They will be unarmed and have no executive police powers," the Vienna-based OSCE statement said.
Last week, the OSCE's 56 member states had discussed sending an international police force to calm inter-ethnic tensions in the central Asia state, responding to a request from Kyrgyzstan's interim leader Roza Otunbayeva, but failed to name a date.
Kazakhstan currently holds the OSCE chairmanship and its ambassador Kairat Abdrakhmanov welcomed the latest decision. It would "enhance the OSCE's continuing work with Kyrgyzstan to resolve the current crisis, prevent the spillover of tensions in the region and promote post conflict rehabilitation," Abdrakhmanov said.
The police advisory group would initially be deployed for a period of four months, but the mission could be extended with the agreement of Kyrgyzstan and the OSCE permanent council, the statement said. All 56 member states could nominate candidates for the group. The decision comes just over a month after Kyrgyzstan was shattered by the worst ethnic violence in Central Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

  US resumes ties with Indonesian special forces
AFP, Jakarta

The United States said Thursday it would resume ties with Indonesian special forces after a 12-year hiatus, as part of efforts by Washington to reach out to the world's largest Muslim nation.
The announcement, made during a visit by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to Indonesia, comes as Washington seeks to resume training for the Kopassus unit as part of growing military cooperation with Jakarta.
"The United States will begin a gradual, limited programme of security cooperation activities with the Indonesian Army Special Forces," Gates said referring to the Kopassus unit with which Washington suspended ties in 1998.
The decision came "as a result of Indonesian military reforms over the past decade... and recent actions taken by the Ministry of Defense to address human rights issues," he said after talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"Our ability to expand upon these initial steps will depend upon continued implementation of reforms within Kopassus and TNI (the Indonesian armed forces) as a whole," he said, describing the move as "a very significant development".
The move is controversial as the Kopassus unit has been implicated in human rights abuses, including in East Timor, and some figures in the US Congress have opposed embracing the force before it has accounted for its past.
The United States broke off ties with the Kopassus under a law banning cooperation with foreign troops implicated in rights abuses.
The Indonesian special forces are accused of committing rights violations in East Timor and Aceh under then-dictator Suharto in the 1990s.
A report last year by US-based Human Rights Watch accused the elite unit of ongoing abuses in the restive province of Papua, including unwarranted arrests, beatings and other mistreatment including "brutality against ordinary Papuans".

  Turkey passes law to keep Kurdish children out of jail
AFP, Ankara

Turkey's parliament Thursday passed a law to curb the imprisonment of Kurdish children who take part in violent protests, a practice that has further poisoned ties with the restive minority.
The ruling party drafted the bill after hundreds of minors, some as young as 12, landed in prison in recent years, sparking a nationwide outcry and accusations that Ankara is not truly committed to ending the bloody conflict in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
The legislation effectively provides an amnesty for children currently in prison and makes it much harder for future offenders to be jailed, Kurdish parliament member Bengi Yildiz explained.
"About 190 children currently in jail are expected to walk free ... Also thousands of others who remain on trial will benefit from the law," he told AFP. Stone-throwing children have become a fixture at Kurdish demonstrations, which routinely involve shows of support for the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Ankara over its violent 26-year campaign for self-rule.
Hundreds of minors have been prosecuted by adult courts under Turkey's tough anti-terror law, which allows judges to consider pro-PKK protests as terrorist propaganda and punish demonstrators with heavy jail terms.

  Ageing with HIV: The hidden side of world's AIDS crisis
AFP, Vienna

The world will face a mighty social and medical challenge as millions of people with HIV survive into old age, the world AIDS forum has heard.
The problem is only now becoming apparent as the first generation living with the human immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV) head towards their 60th birthday and beyond, thanks to the lifeline of antiretroviral drugs, say specialists.
These survivors are mainly in western nations, where the precious therapy first became available from 1996.
But they will soon be followed by millions of counterparts in sub-Saharan Africa and other poor countries where the drug rollout started in the middle of the last decade.
That these men and women should have stayed the course is itself a stunning testimony to antiretrovirals-and, say some of the survivors themselves, something of a miracle.
"We lived from day to day," Jean-Luc Romero, 51, a councillor for the Paris region, told AFP, as he recalled the situation in 1987, when he learned of his HIV status.
"There was no point planning beyond that. We saw people dying all around us, and we would say, 'That will be us one day.' We didn't think about the future, because the present was all we had. I remember thinking, 'I won't live beyond 30'."

Business/Economy

Pragati to assemble Pajero Sports Jeep by June
UNB, Dhaka

Pragati Industries Limited, a subsidiary of Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC), will offer luxurious Japanese Pajero Sports Jeep in the local market by June next year after assembling in its Chittagong plant.
The price of each Pajero Sports Jeep, assembled by Pragati, will be Tk 60 lakh in the local market while it will cost at least Tk 1.20 crore if imported directly from Japan, BSEC chairman Mohammad Abu Hafiz said at press conference at the Industries Ministry conference room on Thursday.
Industries Minister Dilip Barua, Industries Secretary Dewan Zakir Hossain and additional secretary ABM Khorshed Alam were present at the press conference.
Briefing the journalists, Minister Barua said the government would earn over Tk 27 lakh in revenue from each assembled Pajero Sports Jeep sold locally. He said Pragati Industries would hopefully go into trial assembling of Pajero Sports Jeep by January next year. Pragati Industries have already taken steps to import 12 Pajero Sports Jeeps in CKD (Completely Knocked Down) condition by November this year, the minister added.
Replying to a question, Industries Secretary Dewan Zakir Hossain said the demand for such vehicle is remarkable in the local market. "Pragati has a capacity of assembling 800 units of Pajero Sports Jeep each year."
Pragati Industries signed a five-year agreement with Mitsubishi Motor Corporation on July 8 in Japan for assembling its Pajero Sports Jeep at their Chittagong plant. Managing Director of Pragati Industries Engr Mohammad Zahir Uddin Chowdhury and corporate general manager of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation Genichiro Nishina signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides. BSEC chairman Mohammad Abu Hafiz, additional Industries Secretary ABM Khorshed Alam and a senior official of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Mitsuyoshi Yokoi were present at the signing ceremony.
Earlier, the state-owned BSEC and the Mitsubishi Motor Corporation agreed to set up a joint venture plant to manufacture cars in country' s commercial capital Chittagong.
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation on December 3 last year sent a proposal titled "Proposal for Pajero Sports Assembling Project at PIL factory" to the Industries Ministry with an estimated cost of 110 million Japanese Yen.
Following the proposal, a memorandum of understanding between the two parties was signed on February 24 this year for assembling Pajero Sports Jeep. Separate teams from Japan visited the Chittagong plant of Pragati Industries thrice this year - in March, April and July - and had given training to the local engineers. The Cabinet committee on public purchase approved procuring through PIL 420 Pajero Jeeps for Upazila chairmen and 208 Pajero for Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs) in the fiscal 2008-09 and 2009-10. Pragati Industries made a record profit of Tk 25.05 crore against a target of Tk 21.79 crore in the just-ended fiscal, which was the highest achievement of the company so far. Its profit was Tk 16.60 crore in the fiscal 2008-2009. The government earned revenue worth Tk 87.33 crore from the PIL in the last fiscal while the amount was Tk 47.60 crore in the fiscal 2008-09.

 BSEC records highest profit
UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) recorded highest profit in the just-ended fiscal (2009-10) year since its inception in 1976, BSEC Chairman Mohammad Abu Hafiz said on Thursday.
The BSEC, a government organization under the Ministry of Industries, made profit of Tk 71.40 crore in the last fiscal and contributed Tk 337.25 crore to the national exchequer. The profit was Tk 59.60 crore in the 2008-09 fiscal with a contribution of Tk 282.79 crore to the national exchequer.
The BSEC has nine subsidiaries- Atlas Bangladesh Ltd, Bangladesh Blade Factory Ltd, Chittagong Dry Dock Ltd, Eastern Cables Ltd, Eastern Tubes Ltd, Gazi Wires Ltd, General Electric Manufacturing Co. 333+Ltd, National Tubes Ltd and Pragati Industries Ltd.
Of the nine companies, Atlas Bangladesh Ltd recorded the highest profit (32.64 crore) in the fiscal 2009-10 and it deposited Tk 216.42 crore to the government exchequer.
Pragati Industries Ltd (PIL) was in the second position in terms of making profit. The profit amount was Tk 25.05 crore in the last fiscal. The government earned revenue worth Tk 87.33 crore from PIL.
The BSEC deposited Tk 1303.31 crore to the government exchequer in the last six fiscals since 2004-05 while it made profit worth Tk 254.61 crore within the same period.

  G7 trade flows growth slows down in Q1 2010
Xinhua, Paris

The growth of merchandise trade volumes for the Group of 7 countries as a whole slowed down in the first quarter of 2010, albeit a continued upward trend, the Paris- based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Wednesday.
Compared to the fourth quarter of 2009, G7 merchandise export and import volumes both grew by 3.2 percent in the first quarter, more than respective growth rate of 4.7 percent and 3.7 percent a quarter before.
Germany and Japan registered rises in export volumes by 4.3 percent and 6.5 percent respectively, leading the G7 overall trade flows growth, whilst Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States recorded growth rates smaller than 2 percent, the developed countries bloc said in a report.
Based on seasonally adjusted monthly data, merchandise trade values remain approximately 20 percent below pre-crisis levels in April and May, OECD added.
As to balance of payments data, the value of merchandise exports and imports grew by 1.3 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively, in the first quarter, down from last quarter's 8.0 percent and 6.7 percent accordingly.
Balance of payments data for trade in services showed a fall in 2010 first quarter of 1.7 percent for exports and 1.0 percent for imports.
The G7 groups seven most industrialized countries, which are France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

  Eurozone risks threaten nascent recovery: IMF
AFP, Washington

The eurozone's fiscal crises "threaten" the area's nascent economic recovery and could lead to persistent unemployment, the IMF warned Wednesday.
The recovery, driven mainly by foreign demand, "is likely to be slowed in the near term by market tensions related to sovereign risks," the International Monetary Fund said in a report.
"Over the medium term, the need for fiscal consolidation and structural rigidities will weigh on (the eurozone), leading to persistent unemployment and subdued investment," the Washington-based fund said after annual consultations with the area's 16 member economies. The IMF warning came ahead of European banking sector "stress tests"-due to be published on Friday-designed to assess the capacity of 91 European lenders to withstand economic or financial crises.
Although the markets took a "favorable view" of the stress tests, "some uncertainty regarding the stringency of the tests is likely to remain," the fund said in the report, calling for more transparency and an expansion of these assessments.
It wanted "a more detailed disclosure" of outcomes together with remedial actions by weak institutions to mitigate capital shortfalls, and called for "broadening the transparent use of stress tests beyond the largest institutions." But IMF spokesman Bill Murray later played down concerns about the stress tests, saying the report's criticisms were "out of context and somewhat out of date."
"The IMF welcomes the European move to publish the stress testing of the banks and expect (them) to address the questions that have been raised about transparency and help restore confidence in the financial system," he said.
The markets have turned their attention to the health of banks after an explosion of public deficits and debts in the 16-nation eurozone weakened the single currency. The debt drama forced European governments to bail out Greece and set up a 750-billion-euro (957-billion-dollar) safety net with the IMF for other countries to tap into if they get in trouble.

  Companies look to North Korea as place to do business
AFP, Hong Kong

North Korea is perhaps not the most obvious place to do business.
Its ban on private markets, its shrinking economy and reputation as a blustering relic of the Cold War would not normally make it the first choice for foreign firms.
And new US sanctions against Pyongyang announced Wednesday by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a visit to Seoul have not helped the North's cause.
Clinton said the measures, in response to the sinking of a South Korean warship, were designed to prevent the regime from bankrolling its atomic programme or spreading nuclear arms. But a tiny band of entrepreneurs from the west are still willing to take a chance and do business in North Korea.
A handful of European companies are exploiting North Korean expertise in film and cartoon animation, videogames, software and map digitisation-even the making of replica paintings.
Leading the trickle into North Korea is Paul Tjia, founder of Rotterdam-based outsourcing company GPI Consultancy, who is organising a trade trip for interested companies in September. It will be his fifth visit.
"The main challenge is finding accurate information on business opportunities, and for this reason, participation in a trade mission is useful," Tjia told AFP.
"North Korea is a rather isolated country, and the general opinion is that more international trade and investment will improve the situation." In tough economic times in which companies need to cut costs, North Korea "is an interesting option" says Tjia.

  Asia-Pacific airlines enjoy strong recovery
AFP, Kuala Lumpur

Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region are enjoying a strong recovery from the economic downturn, with sharp gains in passenger numbers and freight traffic in June, an industry group said Thursday.
The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said that regional airlines carried 15.1 million international passengers in June, a 25.2 percent increase compared to the same month a year ago.
International air cargo demand was also strong, with Asian carriers reporting a 30.4 percent growth in freight tonne kilometres (FTK) year-on-year.
"Asia Pacific-based airlines have seen a solid recovery in leisure and business travel, as well as robust air cargo demand, with overall traffic back to pre-recession levels," said AAPA director general Andrew Herdman.
Herdman said the outlook for the months ahead "remains broadly positive", with the International Monetary Fund projecting a global economic growth rate of 4.6 percent for 2010, and 9.2 percent for the Asian region.
"Airlines are well positioned to meet the expected growth in demand, through a combination of new aircraft deliveries and further improvements in fleet utilisation," he said.
The AAPA said that over the first half of 2010, Asia-Pacific carriers carried 89 million international passengers, 14.9 percent up on the same period a year ago.
International air cargo demand jumped by 34.8 percent over the six months, "marking a dramatic recovery from the steep declines in international trade we experienced in the same period last year."

  Obama signs historic finance reform bill
AFP, Washington

President Barack Obama Wednesday signed into law the most sweeping reform of the US finance industry since the 1930s, promising US taxpayers would no longer get the bill for Wall Street excess.
The legislation, which some Republicans have pledged to repeal, introduces new consumer protections, checks the power of big banks and cracks down on deceptive practices by credit card firms.
"Because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes. There will be no more tax-funded bailouts," Obama promised.
Seeking to restore public confidence in his economic leadership as unemployment flirts with double digits, Obama said the bill would repair the fractures and abuses that produced the financial meltdown.
"It was a crisis born of a failure of responsibility, from certain corners of Wall Street to the halls of power in Washington," said Obama, before adding the legacy-boosting law to his huge health care reform passed earlier this year.
"These reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history," Obama said, before signing the new law, passed by Congress last week.
"These protections will be enforced by a new consumer watchdog with just one job: looking out for people-not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses.

  Wal-Mart urges India to open retail sector
AFP, New Delhi

The world's number one retailer Wal-Mart said Thursday it could open "hundreds of stores" in India if the government opened up the country's giant retail sector to foreign investors.
India has recently kicked off a public debate on allowing foreign supermarkets to open stores in India, a key reform pushed for by economists seeking greater liberalisation in the economy. "We can only open seven, eight or 10 stores a year if it (the sector) is not opened," the managing director of Wal-Mart's Indian joint venture Bharti-Wal-Mart, Raj Jain, told reporters in New Delhi.
"But (allowing) foreign direct investment could mean we could open up hundreds of new stores," he told reporters.
Foreign groups such as Wal-Mart can currently only be wholesalers and must partner with domestic firms to sell in India. It has entered the back-end retail supply chain in an alliance with Bharti Enterprises, parent of India's top mobile firm Bharti Airtel.
India's tight foreign investment rules are designed to protect small family-run stores in the 500-billion-dollar retail sector. Only single-brand foreign outlets such as Nokia or Reebok are allowed to operate freely.
Wal-Mart, Britain's Tesco and French supermarket Carrefour have been pushing for a government green light that would fully open up the sector to foreigners.

  Billions needed to rebuild Iraqi industry
AFP, Baghdad

Improved security is allowing Iraq to rebuild its shattered industry but up to seven billion dollars is needed to help the sector recover from years of war and sanctions, the industry minister told AFP. "At the present estimate, I would think it will require between five and seven billion dollars (3.9 to 5.5 billion euros) of investment" to "re-invent the industrial sector in Iraq in a modern way," Fawzi Hariri said in an interview.
"What has been spent to date has been less than one billion dollars," said Hariri, a 52-year-old Christian member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party who has held the post since 2006. Iraq's industrial sector, which was once among the region's most advanced, has been decimated by 30 years of destructive wars and sanctions. "Probably 97 percent" of government revenue over the past several years has come from oil," Hariri said. Iraq fought Iran from 1980-88, invaded Kuwait in 1990 and was expelled in 1991. It was then targeted by crippling UN sanctions until the 2003 US-led invasion, which unleashed a wave of internecine violence that persists to this day.
By "2003, almost 99 percent of Iraq's industry was at a standstill," Hariri said. "It was either destroyed ... looted or was shut down." Since then, some progress has been made.
"Today, over 70 percent of the factories are actually working and producing," although "they are not working to the right capacity."
Hariri's ministry controls 70 companies in six sectors: construction, chemicals and petrochemicals, engineering, food, pharmaceuticals and textiles. Various other ministries own another 122 companies. But while many companies are state owned and could theoretically be well-funded, Iraq's myriad needs have drained the country's coffers and created intense competition among government enterprises for scarce cash.
Security, health, education, oil and other needs "took a priority on the government budget in comparison to the needs of industry," Hariri said. "Therefore, we were working with very limited resources." Since government funding has been lacking, private-sector investment has taken on crucial importance in rehabilitating the sector.
"Due to our need (for) more funding to come in for rehabilitation and due to the lack of funding from the government ... we had to go for private sector" investment, said Hariri.
There are currently at least 10 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in joint ventures with private firms, he said.

National

Call for awareness about bio-safety, genetically modified organism

BSS, Rajshahi

Researchers and experts underlined the need for creating a massive awareness about bio-safety and genetically modified organism to ensure human health safe and sound.
They said increased literacy in this regard is very much essential to protect human health, preserve bio-diversity and protect environment from degradation. Talking to BSS in Rajshahi on Thursday, the experts observed that substantial researches in this field and their findings could play a supportive role as there is no alternative to it.
"Importance should be given to creating awareness among the concerned scientists and other stakeholders about bio-safety and genetically modified organism as well as their risks to environment and human body," said Professor Dr Golam Kabir of Botany Department of Rajshahi University.
Referring to various merits and demerits of the modified foods, he said the progress so far achieved in this field might be meaningless if bio-diversity and human health are not maintained. Besides, he added that the modern bio-technology has tremendous potentials for the country's welfare, particularly, in meeting the impending needs for improved and value added agricultural crops, food products, medicine and environment. As there prevails apprehension of certain or uncertain risks to the biological world including the human being, Dr Kabir urged the scientists of different organizations to conduct research for identifying their extent. Prof Dr Abdul Mannan of Zoology Department of RU recommended that all law and regulations related to the protection of environment, conservation of natural resources and control of environmental pollution and degradation should be amended.
Due to lack of appropriate knowledge the farmers use excess fertilizers and pesticides indiscriminately in their fields triggering the process of environment pollution.
In this regard, Dr Mannan said special measures should be undertaken to ensure proper application and use of agricultural inputs in vegetable cultivation so that the growers could get adequate knowledge regarding application and use of fertilizer in their cropping fields. The vegetable farming especially the commercial ones has been gaining popularity everywhere in the region.
So, due attention should be given to bringing those under a planned use of the inputs.
Likewise, Prof Dr Bidhan Chandra Das of the same department underscored the need for a comprehensive approach to conserve the beneficial insects in the greater interest of ecological balance.
He said the farmers destroy various species of the insects during the time of eliminating the destructive ones due to lack of adequate knowledge in this regard and laid stress on successful promotion of biological pest management system in the agro-fields.

  Burn unit to be opened at Barisal SBMCH
UNB, Barisal

A special unit for treatment of different types of burn injury patients would be opened at Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital soon.
Dr Nazrul Islam, specialist of SBMCH surgery unit, said due to lack of specialized burn unit in the hospital, more than 5,000 burn injury patients in a year admitted at surgery unit are deprived from special care needed for treating such kind of injuries and also hamper the treatment of other patients of the ward. He quoting Dr Samanta Lal Sen, director of burn unit opening project and a specialist of DMCH burn unit, said within this
year special burn units would be opened in public hospitals at divisional level.
Dr Kamaluddin, assistant director of the hospital, on Wednesday said a letter from the health directorate recently reached in Barisal.

  ‘Steps to be taken to include disaster risk reduction subject in NFPE programme’

BSS, Dhaka

State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Motahar Hossain said on Thursday that steps would be taken to include a subject on 'disaster risk reduction' (DRR) in the Non-Formal Primary Education (NFPE) programme in the country. "It is essential to reach the message of the programme to 82,000 primary schools across the country," he said.
Motahar Hossain was addressing a workshop on 'Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction (DPR) in Non-Formal Primary Education held under the joint aegis of Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) and Concern Universal (CU), a non-government organization, at the DAM Bhaban auditorium at Dhanmondi.

   Prevention of corruption must for attaining dev: Speakers
BSS, Rangpur

Speakers at a discussion held at Chilmari in Kurigram on Wednesday afternoon stressed the need for launching a social movement for preventing corruption for attaining sustainable developments in all sectors of the society.
The process of building digital Bangladesh would be accelerated if the institutional and all other sorts of corruption could be prevented and people from all walks in the society including the youths and students can play vital roles in this regard, they said. They were addressing the discussion titled 'Be Active in Preventing Corruption in Own Areas' organized as a part of the ongoing Anti-Corruption Campaign by CDDF with the assistances of the USAID and PROGATI on Chilmari Upazila Parishad premises.
Chaired by Chilmari UNO Enamul Haque, the meeting followed by an anti- corruption cultural function, was attended and addressed by veteran freedom fighter and Chilmari Upazila Chairman Shawkat Ali Sarker Bir Bikram as the chief guest. Upazila Vice-chairmen Zamshidul Islam Monu and Marjina Begum, Chilmari Press Club President Nazrul Islam, Upazila Agriculture Officer Zulfikar Haider, Muktijoddha Commander Mohsin Ali, addressed as the special guests.
Besides, Awami League leaders Abdus Sattar, Joynal Abedin, programme officer of Democracy Watch Shameem Al Mamun and executive director of Chilmari Distressed Development Foundation (CDDF) Lutfar Rahman, also addressed. The speakers said the people's power would definitely prevent all sorts of corruption in the society to ensure welfare of all citizens and their uniform developments to realize the dreams of the martyrs of the War of Liberation.
"It is possible to build a Sonar Bangla as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by rooting out corruption and timely materializing the Vision- 2021," they said.

   Union information centre launched in Nilphamari
BSS, Rangpur

The common people in the remotest Nautara union under Dimla upazila in Nilphamari entered a new era of digitalised living as the first ever Union Information Centre (UIC) in the district was launched there on Wednesday afternoon.
The historical transformation of the backward area into a digitalised one was formally launched through a video conference of the local people with PS-1 to the Prime Minister and National Project Director of the A2I Project M Nazrul Islam Khan. In line with the present government's vision to build a Digital Bangladesh, Nilphamari district and Dimla upazila administrations have set up the UIC to ensure RTI of the common people and provide them with necessary information in all villages.
Chaired by Nautara union Chairman Mosharraf Hossain Mintu, the occasion was attended by ADC (Revenue) of Nilphamari Hafizur Rahman, UNO of Dimla upazila Mizanur Rahman, upazila vice chairmen Rahia Sarker and Rabiul Karim, officials, farmers, students, public representatives and common people. While talking with the officials and local people, A2I Project Director N I Khan said that launching of the UIC in the remote area is a step forward in the process of building a digital Bangladesh and the local people will now get all information at their doorsteps.
The grassroots people will now get online services and facilities like different government forms and information about agriculture, healthcare, education, admission, legal aid, human rights and employment for their development, he said. Talking to BSS, the UNO said that the upazila administration has taken all necessary steps to bring all 10 unions under ICT facilities through setting up UICs and utilising only the local resources and without spending any public money.
He said the administration has been working relentlessly to bring the people of all 60 unions in Nilphamari district under the same facilities by completing the setting up of 60 UICs very soon and more than half of those are now ready for launching.

Sports

Sri Lanka beat India
AFP, Galle, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka thumped India by 10 wickets in their first Test.
The off-spinner had last man Pragyan Ojha caught at slip by Mahela Jayawardene to reach the landmark and terminate India's second innings in the post-lunch seesion of the final day's play.
India, who were made to follow on 244 runs behind, were bowled out for 338 in their second knock, leaving Sri Lanka a modest target of 95 runs in the opening match of the three-Test series.
The hosts cruised home without losing a wicket as Tharanga Paranavitana followed his first-innings century with 23 not out and Tilla-karatne Dilshan smashed an unbeaten 68 off 47 balls.
Dilshan signalled the emphatic win by lofting off-spinner Harbhajan Singh over long-on for six.
"We could not have scripted it better," said Sri Lanka's captain Kumar Sangakkara. "We won the match and Murali got his 800. There has not been a better bowler in the game than him. "Our focus was always on winning the match. The second day was washed out, but the team responded superbly after that. It was great to see (Lasith) Malinga come back strongly and pick up a fiver in the second innings.
"There won't be another Murali, so I won't even try to find one. But we have capable replacements and we are focused on winning the series." Muralitharan, 38, who has taken more Test (800) and one-day (515) wickets than any bowler in history, remains open to playing limited-overs games.
He claimed 5-63 in the first innings of his final appearance and 3-128 in the second to set up the hosts' victory at the Galle International Stadium. Some 15,000 fans, including Muralitharan's parents, his Indian wife, Madhimalar, and four-year old son, Naren, faced anxious moments before the landmark was achieved.
The spinner needed 23 overs to move from 799 to 800 wickets following a doughty rearguard action by India, whose last three wickets added 141 runs after being 197-7 at one stage. Venkatsai Laxman led the fightback with a defiant 69, adding 49 for the eighth wicket with debutant Abhimanyu Mithun and 68 for the ninth with Ishant Sharma. "This is obviously not an ideal start to the series," said Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. "But we did miss our senior seamers like the injured Zaheer Khan.
"Murali showed what a great bowler he is, but we found Malinga more difficult to pick. He is a different kind of bowler and would trouble even the batsmen who are set."
India had added five runs to their overnight total of 181-5 when Malinga bowled Dhoni with a toe-crushing yorker to claim his fourth wicket in the innings.
Muralitharan, who dismissed Yuvraj Singh off the last ball on Wednesday, trapped Harbhajan Singh leg-before in the day's fourth over to move to 799 wickets. Mithun helped himself to five boundaries in his 25 when he became Malinga's fifth victim in the innings to make India 246-8.
Laxman was run out by a direct throw from Angelo Mathews, but Sharma hung on for 106 deliveries to hit a career-best 31 not out. "There is plenty to look forward to for the rest of the series," said Dhoni. "Viru (Sehwag) batted very well and Mithun was lively in his first match. We will fight hard to come back."
India, the top-ranked Test side, have not won a Test series in Sri Lanka since 1993. The action now shifts to Colombo where the second Test starts at the Sinhalese sports club on July 26, followed by the third at the P. Sara Oval on August 3.

  Muralitharan takes 800th Test wicket with last ball
AFP, Galle, Sri Lanka

Retiring world bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka reached the 800-wicket mark with his last delivery in Test cricket on Thursday.
The off-spinner, 38, had last man Pragyan Ojha caught at slip by Mahela Jayawardene to terminate India's second innings after lunch on the final day of the first Test at the Galle International Stadium.
Muralitharan, who has more Test and one-day (515) wickets than any bowler in history, will retire from Test cricket after the match.
Muralitharan's controversial bent-arm action-the result of an elbow deformity since birth-helped him impart considerable turn and bounce to wreak havoc with the ball.
The 133-Test veteran claimed five wickets in an innings an astonishing 67 times, almost double the hauls of second-placed Australian Shane Warne, who achieved this on 37 occasions.
Muralitharan took 10 wickets or more in a Test 22 times. Warne, who follows the Sri Lankan in the all-time list with 708 wickets, managed that only 10 times.
The Sri Lankan's record haul of 800 Test wickets is unlikely to be broken in the near future. Among bowlers still playing Test cricket, India's Harbhajan Singh leads the pack with 355 wickets and New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has 325 wickets.

   Vittek leaves Lille and heads for Ankara
AFP, Lille, France

Slovakian international striker Robert Vittek completed his move on Thursday from French side Lille to Turkish outfit MKE Ankaragucu where he spent the second half of last season.
Lille have not released details of the transfer which comes after Vittek spent five months on loan with the Ankara club who finished 12th last season in the Turkish league.
However, media reports claim that the deal is worth 2.1 million euros and is for two years. Vittek scored seven goals in 38 matches with Lille in France's Ligue 1 before going on to score five in 12 for his new club while on loan.
He also had a successful World Cup in South Africa, scoring four goals as Slovakia made it to the last 16, beating Italy on the way.

  Nadal to play in Thailand Open
AFP, Bangkok

World number one Rafael Nadal will play at the Thailand Open in September, organisers said Thursday, raising hopes of a boost to the country's tourism industry in the wake of deadly unrest.
It will be the first time Nadal-who took his second Wimbledon winner's trophy this year-has participated in the Thai tournament, which starts on September 25 in the suburbs of Bangkok. The Spaniard has pulled out twice in the past three years due to injuries.
The president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand, Suwat Lipatapanlop, said he hoped Nadal's debut in Thailand would lure back tourists after anti-government protests turned deadly in April and May. "I hope his appearance will give the country a good image," he said.
The protests in Bangkok sparked violence that left 90 people dead, nearly 2,000 injured and Thailand's reputation as a safe holiday destination in question-alth-ough foreign tourists are now slowly returning.
Nadal, who has also won the French Open five times, said he was fit to play at the 600,000-dollar tournament.
"With my health and body in good shape, I am really looking forward to playing some great tennis for Thai fans," he said in a statement. US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro is also set to play at the event, which runs until October 3.

  Korean star Lee to play for Qatar’s Al Sadd
AFP, Kashima, Japan

South Korean defender Lee Jung-Soo has agreed to play for Qatari side Al Sadd, officials from his current J-League club Kashima Antlers said Thursday.
Lee, who is 30, made his debut for South Korean national team in March 2008 and scored two goals in last month's World Cup, helping his team reach the last 16.
"I feel very sorry that I will leave Kashima in the middle of the season. I received a chance to play football in different cultures. It's a new challenge for me," said Lee in a statement.
Lee, who joined Kashima from Kyoto Sanga this season, scored three times in 10 games, including a match-winning goal to help Kashima regain top spot in the league last Saturday.
The J-League has been overshadowed by rich Middle Eastern clubs who have repeatedly lured its most accomplished players, including Brazilians Davi from Nagoya Gram-pus, Kabore from FC Tokyo and Leandro from Gamba Osaka.

  Fulham ditch bid to sign Ajax coach Jol
AFP, London

Fulham have been forced to drop their bid to hire Ajax coach Martin Jol as their new manager after failing to persuade the Dutch club to enter talks over compensation.
The west London club had targeted former Tottenham boss Jol as the man they wanted to take charge at Craven Cottage following Roy Hodgson's move to Liverpool.
It is believed Jol was keen to return to the Premier League and Fulham had agreed a contract with the Dutchman after being told there was an "exit clause" in his Ajax deal that would allow him to leave.
But Ajax insisted that clause was not valid and the Amsterdam outfit made it clear there was no chance of Jol being allowed to go.
Jol was unhappy at Ajax after initially being told there would be little money available to sign new players, even if stars like Maarten Stekelenburg, Luis Suarez and Gregory van der Wiel were sold.
But he has since held constructive talks with Ajax chief executive Rik van den Boog, who offered assurances that any funds generated from the possible departures of big names would be ploughed back into team strengthening.
"On Thursday morning, following talks with Ajax, the club can confirm that it has ceased negotiations for the release of Martin Jol from his contract with the Dutch Club," a statement on Fulham's website read.
"Although Fulham had agreed personal terms with Martin Jol, Ajax were not willing to allow him to leave under any circumstances, and have held him to the terms of the contract he signed last summer.
"When Fulham commenced negotiations with Martin Jol, the club was informed that an exit clause existed in his contract with Ajax.
"Subsequent negotiations revealed that the clause was no longer valid and Ajax position remained steadfast in their desire to keep their manager, therefore dialogue between the two clubs has now ended."
After spending several weeks in a failed attempt to land Jol, beaten Europa League finalists Fulham now have just three weeks to appoint a new boss before the start of the Premier League season.

  De Villiers hints at conspiracy to help All Blacks
AFP, Sydney

Springboks coach Peter de Villiers on Thursday suggested his team have been victims of a conspiracy to assist the All Blacks ahead of next year's World Cup in New Zealand.
As South African officials took issue with what they claimed were adverse refereeing and judicial rulings, de Villiers went further, insinuating the All Blacks were aided by referees in the Tri-Nations to help swell Kiwi World Cup excitement. The Springboks crashed to back-to-back defeats against the All Blacks in New Zealand this month and face the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday.
"I've got my own observations about the last two Tests, and maybe I can't say it in public, but we do have a World Cup in New Zealand next year and maybe it was the right thing for them to win the games so they can attract more people to the games next year," he said on Australian television.
The Springboks are bemused as to why northern hemisphere referees have officiated in their opening two Tests, which New Zealand won comfortably after South Africa had players sin-binned early in both matches.
Lock Bakkies Botha was also suspended for the entire Tri-Nations tournament for headbutting scrum-half Jimmy Cowan in the 32-12 loss in Auckland, while winger Jean de Villiers was banned for three weeks for a dangerous tackle on Rene Ranger in the 31-17 Wellington defeat.
De Villiers was particularly unhappy about the way Irish referees Alan Lewis and Alain Rolland controlled the breakdown in both matches.

   Man City midfielder Yaya Toure determined to establish club
in the big time

BBC Online

Toure, 27, completed his £24 million switch from Barcelona earlier this month after a protracted chase for his signature. Despite dropping out of the Catalans' starting side, the Ivorian international is expected to help the Blues reach the Champions League qualifying places next season.
Speaking to BBC Sport, he expressed his happiness at making the switch.
"It has been two years since Man City wanted me, I am happy and want to make this club big," Toure said.
The defensive midfielder - who played every minute of the Elephants disappointing World Cup 2010 campaign - also said he couldn't wait to experience the atmosphere in English football grounds.
"I once had a trial at Arsenal for two months and I loved it - the way people love football, in December in Europe everyone is on holiday, but they still play football and it's amazing," he stated.
Toure was sold on the switch by older brother Kolo and former Togo international striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
"I spoke to Emmanuel and my brother after the signing and said to them I want to make this club great in Europe," he added.
"The people at the club have a direction to make this club one of the greatest like Barcelona, like Real Madrid - this first year the objective is to qualify for the European Champions League and I am sure eventually we will win the Premier League."

   Tiger Woods tops list of top-earning athletes
BBC Online

You can't stop them-you can only hope to re-sign them. Extracurricular scandals, contract holdouts and ugly labor negotiations seem to have rocked professional sports more than any other point in recent memory. And yet financially, athletes seem nearly bulletproof.
For the seventh consecutive year, SI.com has compiled a list of the 50 top-earning American athletes by salary, winnings, endorsements and appearance fees. The average earnings of those on the list have reached an all-time high of $26.2 million (up 11 percent from '09).
In a year in which Tiger Woods' image has been forever tarnished-costing the perennial No. 1 tens of millions in endorsement dollars-he still stayed ahead of the curve. Tiger's earnings were down more than $9 million from a year ago, but he still earned nearly $30 million more than the No. 2 athlete, fellow golfer Phil Mickelson.
Meanwhile, the NFL has its most prolific showing ever on our list: an unprecedented 15 players, thanks to a rash of contracts that pay out big in a 2010 season without a salary cap. This year's list also features 16 basketball players, 13 major leaguers, three NASCAR drivers, two golfers and one boxer.
The average income of the athletes on our International 20 list of the top-earning non-American sportsmen also broke a record: in excess of $30 million, as new No. 1 Roger Federer has become a financial force alongside the soccer and Formula 1 powerhouses.
Our findings consisted solely of salary, winnings, bonuses, endorsements and appearance fees. We consulted players' associations, tour records, agents and news reports. Our endorsement estimates for 2010 came from Burns Entertainment & Sports Marketing, other sports-marketing executives and analysts, and agents. Salary figures were based on current or most recently completed seasons (the upcoming 2010 season for the NFL). For winnings-based sports (auto racing, golf, tennis), we used the '09 calendar year. Boxing purses are from July '09 to June 2010. Candidates for the U.S. 50 had to be American citizens and currently active in their sports.

   Pakistan 258 all out and Australia 62-2 in their second innings
AFP, Leeds, England

Australia in their second innings were 62 for two, a deficit of 108, at tea on the second day of the second Test against Pakistan at Headingley here on Thursday.Australia captain Ricky Ponting was 18 not out and Michael Clarke unbeaten on two.Pakistan were bowled out for 258 in reply to Australia's 88, a first innings lead of 170, on the second day of the second Test at Headingley here on Thursday.
Shane Watson took six wickets for 33 runs - the second time in as many matches the medium-pacer had taken career-best figures after his five for 40 in Australia's 150-run first Test victory at Lord's last week.Australia lead the two-match series 1-0. But Pakistan should have lost their sixth wicket on 216 when Kamran Akmal, on 10, drove wildly against Doug Bollinger only for Michael Hussey at gully to drop the seemingly straightforward chance off the left-arm quick.
Malik, the only change to the Pakistan side that lost the series opener by 150 runs at Lord's last week after another former captain Shahid Afridi quit the five-day game after that defeat, was appearing in his first Test since facing Australia at Hobart in January. Pakistan, after rain delayed the scheduled start by 45 minutes, resumed on their overnight score of 148 for three Australia's batsmen had been unable to cope with the swinging ball, with seamers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif sharing six wickets between them.
However, Australia have won their last 13 Tests against Pakistan and in January won by 36 runs at Sydney despite a first innings deficit of 206. In this match, Pakistan had lost captain and in-form batsman Salman Butt for 45, with the inexperienced duo of Umar Amin one not out and Umar Akmal eight not out.
An eventful first over demonstrated the pros and cons of Umar Akmal's dashing approach.
He square cut Mitchell Johnson's fourth ball to the point boundary in majestic fashion but, two balls later, skied the left-arm quick to mid-off. Fortunately for the batsman, umpire Ian Gould had called no-ball. But Johnson did not have long to wait for Umar Akmal's wicket. Pitching the ball up, in his third over, Johnson had Umar Akmal caught behind by Paine for 21 after angling the ball across the right-hander. Umar Akmal had scored at better than a run-a-ball but Pakistan were now 171 for four. Pakistan were unfortunate a wet outfield meant they did not get full value for their attacking strokes but Malik's straight-driven three off Johnson did give them a hundred lead.
But a ball after Amin cover-drove Ben Hilfenhaus for a textbook four, the left-hander was out for 25 in bizarre fashion.
Amin, ducking a short delivery from Hilfenhaus, left his bat up in the air and the ball took the back of the blade before lobbing gently to Marcus North at square leg.
This series is being played in England because of security concerns in Pakistan where an armed attack on Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore in March last year led to the suspension of international cricket in the country.

  Gosling joins Newcastle from Everton
AFP,Newcastle

Newcastle completed their controversial signing of England Under-21 midfielder Dan Gosling from Everton on Thursday.
Gosling agreed a four-year deal after the newly-promoted Premier League club exploited a loophole in the youngster's contract at St James' Park to land him on a free transfer. The 20-year-old rejected Everton's offer of an improved two-year deal when his current contract expired last season and that meant he was able to join the club of his choice because the Toffees' did not put the new offer in writing. Because players under 20 are not allowed to sign five-year contracts, Everton gave Gosling a three-year deal when they bought him from Plymouth in 2008, with what the club say was a verbal undertaking to extend it by two years on substantially improved terms. Everton could have earned around four million pounds by selling Gosling and are believed to be stunned by the player's decision to quit Goodison Park. Gosling, who burst onto the scene with an FA Cup winner for Everton against Liverpool in 2009, told Newcastle's website: "It's a brilliant move for me. Now that the deal is done I just can't wait to get started.

  Gillespie takes coaching job in Zimbabwe
UNB, Harare, Zimbabwe

Former Australia test bowler Jason Gillespie, who was in the running to become England bowling coach after Otis Gibson left, has instead accepted an offer in Zimbabwe. The 35-year-old Gillespie has been signed by the Midwest Rhinos team as head coach for Zimbabwe's upcoming domestic season. Kenyon Ziehl, the franchise's chief executive, confirmed the Gillespie deal to The Associated Press on Thursday. Gillespie is replacing former Zimbabwe batsman Andrew Waller as coach of the team, which is based in the country's Midlands province town of Kwekwe.
Ziehl said Gillespie - who played 71 tests and 97 ODIs for Australia as a right-arm fast-medium bowler - was delighted with the prospects of working in Zimbabwe. "He is excited about it," Ziehl said. "He is bringing his family along, wife and three kids. He has heard all about Zimbabwe cricket's resurgence and wants to be part of it. "We've secured him nice accommodation in the town (Kwekwe). Hopefully he will enjoy the experience. It's a huge adventure for him. It's a season's contract. If things work well we will always extend it."
Although Gillespie has an unbeaten double century to his name as a nightwatchman - against Bangladesh in 2006 - his spell with Rhinos will mainly benefit the bowlers.
"The boys are very excited, especially the bowlers," Ziehl said. "Players from the other franchises now want to join our team to learn from his bowling expertise. It's a huge thing for the franchise; an ex-Australian test bowler coming here. The whole community is excited." Throughout his career, Gillespie was a reliable support bowler over several years for his more famous teammates, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.
England hopeful Riki Wessels, the son of former South Africa and Australia international Kepler Wessels, is also returning to the Zimbabwean franchise for another season after making his debut in 2009-10.

  Van Der Gun Hoping For Good Season
BBC Online

Cedric Van Der Gun is ready for the challenge at Swansea under new boss Brendan Rodgers
The Swansea City midfielder is prepared to take up the option of a second year at the club and hopes for better things this time around as the Swans prepare for a new season under yet another new manager however he is yet to sign that deal and can still leave the club on a free if he so chooses
"I enjoyed my last year, played some good football, but I think I can do a lot better," Van der Gun told BBC Sport.
"We had a good season, a lot of points, but we didn't score a lot of goals. Defensively we were really good, offensively we didn't score a lot of goals.
"So I felt really good playing my football but I was a little bit disappointed with my own individual performance because I know I can do a lot better. "I have played - especially in Holland - the last couple of years really well, so... from this year, offensively I want to do a lot more than I did last year.
"Maybe he wants to wait to see a couple of training sessions, a couple of games, maybe in the next few days he'll come to me and we'll have a talk," Van der Gun said.

  Big winner at The Open
BBC Online

It may have been a one-horse race - and Louis Oosthuizen's final round at St Andrews was the golfing equivalent of a lap of honour - but the 2010 Open Championship was still a memorable occasion.
No realistic challenger emerged on that final day, and some might describe the action as a non-event, but if the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in the autumn is as non-competitive and Europe emerge as the winners, then we will all be well satisfied. The Open was also something of a triumph for the BBC, who invariably excel at the event.
Peter Alliss was in his usual incorrigible form - there really isn't a commentator quite like him, and that is meant as a compliment.
How many others could get away with this comment about Oosthuizen's triumph coinciding with Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday?
"That reminds me - I must give the old boy a ring later," said Allis, with co-commentator Ken Brown hardly able to contain his mirth sitting alongside, Brown having replaced Alex Hay as his willing stooge and feed. There were changes to the coverage this year, most of it - though not all - seamless.
With Gary Lineker on a post-World Cup wind-down, Hazel Irvine took over the presenter's chair and held together the whole broadcast admirably, including the Saturday night overtime shift.
But it's hard to know what new recruit Dan Walker added to the piece.
He seems to be the favoured son these days at the Corporation - what with Football Focus and aboard that irksome BBC bus during the World Cup - his forced joviality and aren't-I-the-life-and-soul-of-the-party? style did not stretch over into the Sunday, as Walker does not work on the Sabbath because of his religious beliefs. Praise the Lord for that!
Another change saw Jean Van Der Velde, the Frenchman who saw his Open hopes suffer a watery grave at Carnoustie in 1999, take course duties from Freckleton's former Tour professional Paul Eales. Van Der Velde was presumably brought in because he is a bigger 'name' than Eales, who was only heard this year via the interactive, alternative red button coverage, alongside Julian Tutt, who used to be in the main team too.
The Open is BBC Sport at its best. No European player - or American come to that - got within hailing distance of Oosthuizen, who followed in the outstanding tradition of past South African Open winners, such as Bobby Locke, Gary Player and Ernie Els.
It has been something of a boom-time for golfers from that country, for compatriots Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman have also won majors.
There are many reason for this and a lot of it could be down to coaching.
As Oosthuizen himself said in the immediate aftermath of his triumph: "We have the best junior/amateur programme and the weather is brilliant.
"You can play in your shorts in winter."

  FIFA praises Japan’s 2022 World Cup bid
UNB, Tokyo

A FIFA delegation praised Japan's planning and advanced infrastructure after completing an inspection of the country's bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
The FIFA inspection team, headed by Chile Football Federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls, toured stadium and broadcasting facilities in Osaka and Tokyo from Tuesday to Thursday."We must say that it is a very balanced product," Mayne-Nicholls said at a press conference on Thursday. "It mixes football traditions with modern stadiums, new technology and environmental projects integrated with the world." Japan, which co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with South Korea, is competing with Australia, Qatar, South Korea and the United States to host the 2022 World Cup. "We got them to see an environment in which you could play fantastic football," said Motoaki Inukai, president of the Japan Football Association. Japan's government has endorsed the nation's bid to host the 2022 World Cup, vowing to cooperate in bringing the showcase tournament to the country.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan hosted the FIFA inspection team at a dinner on Wednesday. "The Japanese government has given its official backing and approval for the 2022 bid," Kan said.
"We are supporting the bid with the full resources of the nation. Should we win the bid, the Japanese government will take all measures that FIFA deems necessary for the successful hosting of the event."

  Ballack starts training at Bayer Leverkusen
AFP, Berlin

German midfielder Michael Ballack, who missed the World Cup because of an ankle injury, began training with his new teammates at Bayer Leverkusen, the German first division side announced on Wednesday.
The former Chelsea player, who joined the German club during the summer, took part in a 25-minute endurance race on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old, who injured his ankle in his last appearance for Chelsea in the English FA Cup final in May, said there had been no adverse reaction to the training. "I am satisfied. There hasn't been a problem with the foot," he said before continuing with the session.
Coach Jupp Heynckes told the daily Bild that Ballack was putting in "more than six hours work every day".
Ballack's determination to return to full fitness has been driven in part by his desire to reclaim the captaincy of the German national team. Philipp Lahm, the man who covered for him in the World Cup, has said he wants to hang on to the captain's armband. Germany coach Joachim Loew, who signed a new contract with the German federation this week taking him up to the 2012 European championships, suggested on Tuesday that he would not make up his mind until Germany's next game on August 11.